Fishwick stumbles: "there was some handover work" in Ambient court hearing

Arvind Hickman
By Arvind Hickman | 21 April 2017
 

Former media company director Mark Fishwick has told a court "there was some handover work" in response to questions about when Ambient Advertising collapsed and Revolution 360 began operations around December 2013.

Fishwick and former Ambient Advertising operations manager Amy Crawley (nee Carahalios) are being questioned in a NSW special purpose liquidator public hearing about events leading up to the collapse of ad booking agency. The previous hearing date examined whether Ambient Advertising overcharged clients, how Fishwick was remunerated, loan activity and the alleged transfer of business between Ambient Advertising and Revolution 360.

When asked by barrister Steven Golledge about why Revolution 360 circulated an email to Ambient Advertising suppliers prior to the business winding up, Fishwick said "there was some handover work" before retracting the statement.

Golledge responded: "Handover to who? Not to Revolution 360?"

Fishwick said he didn't mean that but when Golledge asked if his statement was an error, Fishwick replied: "I didn't say it was an error."

Fishwick said earlier Revolution 360 and Ambient Advertising were not similar or related businesses. Fishwick and his son Michael have worked for both advertising companies.

Earlier in today's hearing, Crowley was asked to explain how there had been discrepancies in the number of units media agencies booked and the number of street posters Ambient Advertising booked from suppliers. 

Crowley explained that in some cases posters could run for more than a week - the standard duration - and that booking referred to media space.

However, when a booking for only one week was trimmed, Crowley said it could be due to not enough media space had been available to fulfil the order. She was unsure if clients were reimbursed if that was the case.

On one occasion when a supplier quote for posters didn't provide a sufficient margin, Crowley said she asked if the order should be trimmed to make Ambient Advertising more profit, adding she would have been instructed to suggest this solution by colleagues at Ambient Advertising.

When Golledge later asked Fishwick why he thought Crowley would ask Fishwick in an email whether she  should trim the order on the basis Ambient wasn't making enough margin on the supplier contract with Foot Traffic Media, he said: "I don't know why she would be interested in Foot Traffic Media's profit."

When Golledge explained Crowley was referring to Ambient's profit, Fishwick said he couldn't recall how he had responded and that he may have advised her to take the low margin option.

Testimony from the hearing is under privilege and cannot be used in a trial. The hearing concludes today.

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