Advisory service Ownership Matters found that of the 66 ASX-listed JobKeeper recipients for the half-year ending 31 December 2020, 58 were profitable, while 34 reported an increase to their underlying earnings of as much as 20 per cent as a result of the stimulus payments.
“JobKeeper was clearly more material to some companies than others…As these entities were significant beneficiaries of government subsidies in periods where they reported a positive earnings metrics (in six months to 31 Dec 2020), investors should closely scrutinise the sustainability of earnings in future periods as government assistance is being wound back,” Ownership Matters said.
The 58 companies received around 30 per cent ($741 million) of all JobKeeper dispensed to the ASX 300. Qube, Star Entertainment, and G8 Education were some of the companies named in the report, but the vast majority of JobKeeper went to private companies – suggesting wastage could be much higher.
The federal opposition has seized on the report’s findings, accusing the Morrison government of throwing “a cloak of secrecy” over the JobKeeper program.
“This report suggests JobKeeper hadn’t been wasted we could extend it for another six months, saving the jobs of perhaps a quarter of a million Australians,” said shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh, adding that an estimated $10billion to $20 billion could have been wasted as a result of the scheme.
Ownership Matters has been a vocal critic of the JobKeeper scheme, which has so far gone unaudited despite being wracked by serious accounting errors that ultimately slashed its cost by half.
