Australian companies that pocketed the most from Jobkeeper scheme revealed

The companies that pocketed the most from taxpayer-funded Jobkeeper payments, some getting well over $100 million, have been exposed.

From Tuesday, every publicly listed business that received the payouts throughout the Covid-19 pandemic must disclose their earnings.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission announced the disclosures would be made publicly available on its website.

The top 10 recipients of JobKeeper payments had combined earnings of $1.4 billion, newly released data has revealed.

Some Aussie companies managed to make a profit from the $101 billion scheme which ran for nearly a year between March of 2020 to 2021 (pictured, The Star casino in Sydney)

Some companies even managed to make a profit from the $101 billion scheme which ran for nearly a year between March 30, 2020, and March 28, 2021.

Others doubled or even tripled their revenue during the nationwide lockdown. 

Australis’s flagship airline Qantas has the number one slot on the list, receiving a staggering $696.5 million worth of the government subsidies.  

Crown Resorts, the nation’s largest gambling and entertainment group, is in second place with $198.3 million. 

Travel company Flight Centre is next with $152 million of JobKeeper payments, followed by Mosaic Brands at $96.5 million and Star Entertainment at $95million. 

Department store Myer (pictured) received $77 million worth of the government subsidies

Event Hospitality & Entertainment, which owns Event Cinemas (pictured) collected a neat $61.5 million from the tax-payer funded initiative

Department store Myer received $77 million worth of government payouts while Event Hospitality & Entertainment collected $61.5 million.

Premier Investments, which owns retail brands including Smiggle, Peter Alexander, Portmans and Just Jeans received $46.5 million.

Seven West Media and Southern Cross Media received a respective $33.4 million and $31.6 million from the government scheme.

Of the top ten recipients, Crown Resorts, Star Entertainment, Myer, and Premier Investments all made a profit from JobKeeper payments.

However, these profits were unable to soften the blow of losses experienced by the Crown, the Star and Myer during the 2019-2020 financial year.

Of the top ten recipients, Crown Resorts, Star Entertainment, Myer, and Premier Investments all made a profit from JobKeeper payments (pictured, a Smiggle store in Perth) 

Premier Investments, who owns retail brands like Smiggle, sleepwear brand Peter Alexander (pictured), Portmans and Just Jeans received $46.5 million worth of JobKeeper payments

Premier Investments came out on top with millions of tax-payer money only bolstering high turnovers achieved in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

ASIC will require all publicly listed businesses bankrolled by the scheme to disclose the total amount of taxpayer dollars they received, the number of employees it was dished out to, and whether they made voluntary repayments. 

Electronics retail giant Harvey Norman finally bowed to public pressure and repaid $6 milllion in JobKeeper subsidies after announcing record profits.

The company has come under intense criticism after its head office and franchisees were given more than $20 million in wage subsidies last year despite surging sales.

Billionaire chairman Gerry Harvey previously refused to give any of the cash back, insisting it was just a ‘tiny amount of money’.

Harvey Norman billionaire chairman Gerry Harvey is pictured with his wife Katie Page

Retail giant Harvey Norman (pictured) has bowed to public pressure and repaid $6milllion in JobKeeper subsidies after revealing record profits

But on Tuesday the company revealed turnover of almost $10 billion for the last financial year, with profits up 78.8 per cent to $1.18 billion. 

Harvey Norman said it would repay the $6.02 million that was paid in JobKeeper to its central company-controlled business.

The amount was equal to all the JobKeeper subsidies Harvey Norman’s core business was given in 2020 and 2021, separate from the independently-run franchisee stores. 

Harvey Norman revenue for 2020-21 increased by 15.3 per cent to $9.72 billion, sparking a $436 million dividend to shareholders, including a bumper $140 million payday for Mr Harvey who is the majority shareholder.