John Hughes float delayed

Victoria Park car dealer John Hughes may delay the planned $200 million float of his company for up to a year as advisers wrestle with compliance issues.

Mr Hughes told _WestBusiness _ last year that a public listing of his John Hughes Group could take place as early as next month.

But brokers Euroz and lawyers are believed to have sought more time to consolidate a web of companies within the dealership.

Mr Hughes is understood to have told a Euroz conference for between 40 and 50 institutional investors on Rottnest Island yesterday that the float would go ahead within the next 12 months.

Participants came away with the expectation that an IPO of JHG may not happen until later in the year or early next year.

A delay would come as a blow to the local IPO market which has been starved of big investment opportunities for 18 months.

There was no suggestion the float of a 40 per cent stake in JHG might be called off. Mr Hughes, 78, in a detailed presentation reiterated he had the energy to continue running the company once it went public. He has previously said he had no intention of retiring but would put a leadership succession plan in place.

The businessman last year registered JHG as the public com- pany for listing, naming key lieutenants Steve Strack and Gary Fitch as directors and himself as chairman.

Mr Hughes could not be reached for comment yesterday.