Deloitte/ Management magazine Executive of the Year 2007
Lloyd Morrison of Infratil success is New Zealand’s top business executive for 2007.
He was last night named the Deloitte/Management magazine Executive of the Year at the annual Top 200 Awards, now in
their 18th year and regarded by business leaders as the country’s most prestigious business awards. Morrison took the
title ahead of fierce competition from New Zealand Post's John Allen and Foodstuffs Auckland's Tony Carter.
Judges said Morrison is an astute man and strategically brilliant. They praised his ability to question, probe and
challenge, saying he's a clever operator and absolutely loyal.
“Under his visionary leadership and early recognition of the potential of infrastructure and utilities, Infratil has
produced consistently excellent results. They make strategic investments that are linked to important infrastructure
both in New Zealand and offshore.”
Company of the Year Award
Alongside Lloyd Morrison's personal success, the company he leads took top honours as this year’s Deloitte/Management
magazine Company of the Year. Judges commented that few New Zealand companies exemplify the “Stepping Beyond” theme of
this year's Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 Awards better than Infratil.
“It consistently meets its commitment to provide shareholders with an annual return of 20 percent,” they said. “The
company is becoming one of the world's most enlightened, best managed, focused and risk-wise investors in growth
infrastructure. It is thoughtfully led, articulates its strategy and corporate objectives and has performed consistently
over time.”
Designworks Enterprise IG Visionary Leader Award
Winner: Eion Edgar
Business, education, arts and sport. To succeed at leadership level in any one of these is commendable. To stay at the
top and give back to all four is outstanding. It is the combination of vision, drive and duty that has enabled him to do
this, that has seen Eion Edgar named as New Zealand's Visionary Leader for 2007.
With comments ranging from praise of his business acumen and there was nobody else in the running, the judges were
unanimous it was high-time this proudly Southern man was honoured.
Other awards presented on the night were:
QBE Insurance Chairperson of the Year
Winner: John Palmer, chair Air New Zealand and Solid Energy.
Kensington Swan Ethical Governance Award
Winner: NZ Aluminium Smelters
Marsh Most Improved Performance Award
Winner: Kiwibank
Colliers International Best Growth Strategy
Winner: Mainfreight
Deloitte Emerging Enterprise Award
Winner: Endace
NZIM/Eagle Technology Young Executive of the Year
Winner: Mason Pratt, managing director, Provoke Solutions
Management magazine Top 200 list for 2007
The awards were made in conjunction with the release of the Deloitte/Management magazine Top 200 list for 2007 which
shows the country's largest companies (judged by revenue).
As usual, Fonterra tops the lists but this year Fletcher Building rose one place to topple Telecom from the number two
ranking.
Strong international commodity prices and a defiantly buoyant domestic economy – despite repeated interest rate hikes
and continued talk of a slowdown – joined forces to lift the combined revenue of the companies by a solid 7.34 percent
this year. In total, the businesses collected $134.9 billion, an increase from last year's group which had a combined
revenue of $125.7 billion.
Collective profitability for the top 200 of 2007, when compared with the top 200 group of 2006,was up an impressive 47
percent to $9.3 billion. In 2006 the combined profits came to $6.3 billion. The threshold for making the list also rose
– sitting at $120 million this year from $118 million in 2006.
Ends