1 min read
%20(1).svg "Frame (18) (1)")
.svg "Close (1)")
Lindsay Australia Limited is an ASX-listed transport, logistics, and rural supply company.
Lindsay Australia and Kim Lindsay, who served as the company CEO for 20 years, have a relationship with Ulton that stretches back through decades of industry evolution, new business pursuits and pivots, and significant company growth.
Before we delve deeper into our longstanding partnership, it's important to appreciate the journey of Lindsay Australia — a journey marked by persistence and adaptability.
1953: Tom and Peter Lindsay founded Lindsay Brothers in Bellambi after purchasing two trucks from their father. The business initially specialised in transporting fruit and vegetables to Coffs Harbour, where they were then loaded onto trains bound for the Sydney markets.
1978: Through a desire to tap into the flourishing small crops market in Queensland, Lindsay Brothers opened their first QLD site in Bundaberg.
1983: Tom Lindsay’s son, Kim Lindsay, established P&H Rural Limited in Bundaberg with two stores.
2002: P&H Rural and Lindsay Brothers were merged and subsequently became the publicly listed company Lindsay Australia, with Kim Lindsay serving as managing director and CEO. At that time, the company had 24 sites, seven transport depots, seven rural branches, a workforce of 600, a 570-strong fleet, a market cap of $25 million, and revenue close to $125 million.
2014: Lindsay Fresh Logistics was launched to join the existing Lindsay Transport and Lindsay Rural divisions, all united under the banner of Lindsay Australia.
However, the incredible Lindsay Australia journey achieved a lot more than can be captured by a handful of dates.
Their journey has been made vivid through various achievements, such as being one of Australia’s earliest adopters of refrigerated trailers, staying ahead of the curve with numerous major vehicle innovations, expanding their reach through acquisitions, and bettering the entire industry by uniting and streamlining diverse yet related offerings across transport, rural, and logistics.
And that brings us to 2023 — a milestone year
2023 marks 70 years of Lindsay Transport, 40 years of Lindsay Rural, and the retirement of Kim Lindsay after 20 years of uninterrupted service as CEO.
In August this year, Lindsay Australia held a celebration in Brisbane to honour the landmark anniversaries and Kim’s incredible contribution to the company.
Ulton’s own Managing Partner Mark McLean was graciously invited to give a speech on this memorable occasion.
“Kim has always been about the people,” Mark addressed the audience.
“Whether they are his customers or his staff — you don’t feel like you work for Kim Lindsay. You feel like you’re part of the Kim Lindsay team,” he continued.
And Mark knows this better than most. After all, he’s maintained a personal and professional relationship with Kim since the ‘90s.
Back in the ‘90s, Ulton (then named Hancock, Sawyer & Partners) were acting for the Pressler’s, a large tomato and citrus grower with businesses in Emerald and Bundaberg — the same region where Kim Lindsay established his P&H Rural operations.
Our firm’s strong relationship with the Presslers naturally led to establishing a similarly strong relationship with Kim and his family.
“I began to do his personal work as well as the P&H work. We also had common interests and enjoyed each other’s company socially,” said Mark.
“Then, as Kim’s business grew, they were looking at opportunities to sell the business,” said Mark.
“There was a company in Bundaberg called Bonel, which was listed on the stock exchange. It was only a small-cap stock so effectively, P&H backed itself into Bonel and became a publicly listed company in its own right,” he said.
“On the back of that, the business formerly known as P&H bought Lindsay Transport. That was the really dominant company that was floated on the stock market,” Mark said.
“Daryl Corpe, Bernard Whebell, and I did a lot of work around that reverse takeover,” he said.
Going public brought many changes to the business. One of which is that they needed to build out an internal finance team. Despite this, the Ulton team have remained external advisors to Kim and his family over the years.
In 2012, Kim and his wife Di discussed their desire to one day retire with their Ulton partners. However, it wasn’t as easy setting a date and planning a party.
“Such a large portion of their personal wealth was involved in the Lindsay Australia business, which made it easy for Kylie, our Wealth Management Partner, to do the sums,” said Mark.
“She said to him ‘Kim, you cannot even think about retiring until your share prices are X dollars and X cents — because that will equate to how much you’ll need to retire based on the retirement lifestyle you want to live,” Mark continued.
“When you've got a client that's got so much money tied up in one particular area, that’s not our ideal situation. We try to ensure our clients are diversified and have a wide breadth of investments,” Mark said.
“But that’s the way they wanted to do it. They really backed themselves to run a good, profitable business and ultimately see that value increase,” said Mark.
Kylie had worked with Kim since 2006 on everything from life insurance, to SMSF, to estate planning, but that retirement planning session in 2012 was by far one of the most pivotal moments in their journey together.
“That critical number became the figure that Kim always held in his head,” Kylie said.
“It’s been so interesting to know that something that I thought at the time was not that big of a deal became such a powerful motivator,” she said.
“And he did it. He achieved that number for the share price, he’s retired, and now we’re working with him on retirement planning,” she said.
Over the years, there’s been a real passing of responsibility between Ulton’s various disciplines and specialists.
“We have that great relationship and that’s flowed on to the service wealth management provides, which is what Kim and Di really appreciate now that they are at that retirement age,” said Mark.
Over his time working with Ulton, Kim has benefited from the support and guidance from multiple touchpoints — business services, audit, super administration, and stockbroking from Morgan’s, just to name a few.
“I think this one is a really good example of multiple parts of the practice working together over a long period of time,” said Kylie.
Over the years, there’s been plenty of lessons learned and moments shared with the Lindsays, but for Kylie, one of the biggest joys has come from seeing her clients enjoy the things they’ve worked hard for.
“I get a lot of happiness out of seeing them enjoying their retirement and seeing them enjoy the payoff of all the work they’ve put in over many, many years,” she said.
“I wish I had a before and after photo. Now that he’s retired, Kim looks about 10 years younger — he’s so relaxed!” she added.
“Kim and Di are so appreciative of having people there like Kylie to hold them to account. It’s enabled them to live the lifestyle they want and provide their four adult children with something that will truly help their lives out,” said Mark.
