8 questions lodged at 2023 Pointsbet AGM

November 28, 2023

Below is the text of the 8 written questions lodged at the 2023 Pointsbet hybrid AGM held on November 28, plus a summary of the answers and some video grabs. There were three circa 10% protest votes against a director and 2 rem resolutions.

Q1. Our biggest competitor Sportsbet has been showering the Federal Labor Party with donations, gifts and dinners to influence gambling policy. Do Sam and the chair think this is going to work in terms of heading off the recommended complete tobacco-style ban on gambling advertising? Also, what is our history and policy on making political donations?

Answer: we don't make donations but we have recently joined Responsible Wagering Australia. No predictions were offered on advertising ban prospects. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q2. Well done on winning $211 million from the Australian gamblers who punted a record $2.63 billion with our company in 2022-23. How long will it take to crack $300 million in Australian revenue and have we cracked the top 6 yet for market share in Australian sports gambling? Is our current market share larger than BETR and please comment on all the media suggesting some sort of merger between BETR and Pointsbet? Doesn't this make sense to achieve scale and would a combined BETR and Pointsbet have a bigger market share than any of Sportsbet, Tabcorp, Entain and Bet365?

Answer: the question was badly censored by the questions wrangler but CEO Sam Swanell did say they were forecasting Australian revenue of $230m-$250m in 2023-24. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q3. The audited accounts show that we have $792 million of accumulated losses, which puts us in the top 20 all time for ASX listed companies. As at June 30, the directors and auditor also said we had $501 million of net assets, but our market capitalisation today is only $241 million. Could the chair and auditor comment on why we didn't take bigger write-downs and what does the share price need to get to make good on all the accumulated losses.

Answer: not asked.

Q4. Does it still make sense to have 3 US-based directors now that we have sold our US business, albeit whilst retaining our much smaller Canadian operation. Also, why are so many of our directors so under-invested in the stock, particularly messrs Grounds, Gada and Harris who together own less than 15,000 shares.

Answer: they are doing a board review after selling the US business and the skin in the game element was initially ignored. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q5. You censored this last time, please ask it on this resolution. Why are so many of our directors so under-invested in the stock, particularly messrs Grounds, Gada and Becky Harris together own less than 15,000 shares. Is Becky planning to buy more shares?

Answer: the chair went with the old blackout excuse but the questions wrangler again refused to name the under-invested directors. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q6. Why was there a 10.73% vote against Manjit on the proxies when the other directors were far more strongly supported. What is the issue? Is it because he's a former Pointsbet employee and therefore not independent?

Answer: the chair explained that they kept their former head of IT on the board as their resident IT expert because he was well across the issues and it would have taken time to train someone else up. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q7. Do any of the 5 main proxy advisers - ACSI, Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis, ISS and ASA - follow Pointsbet. If so, did any of them recommend a vote against any of today's resolutions, including this remuneration report, and what reasons did they give. Please comment on any material protest votes lodged today. Best practice is now to disclose the proxy position to the ASX along with the formal addresses to offer more timely disclosure to the market? The likes of Origin Energy, NAB, Carsales, Viva Energy, Webjet, Xero, Myer, Brambles and JB Hi Fi all do this. Will you adopt this practice at next year's AGM?

Answer: they are covered by 4 proxy advisers but chair warned they may drop out of ASX300 after next capital return. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q8. Are the co-founding Fahey brothers still involved or material shareholders in the company and how important is this resolution to stop co-founder Sam Swanell from defecting to Sportsbet or another competitor? Is the war for gambling industry talent, particularly in the IT and tech space, showing any signs of abating? Also, have our major shareholders backed this resolution, including our newest substantial shareholder Nomura, which has come from nowhere to suddenly own 10.5%? What is the story behind this investment and have they backed all resolutions?

Answer: CEO Sam Swanell said both Fahey brothers remain employees of the business even thought this bit was partly censored. He then gave a considered response on the war for talent which has cooled a little over the past 12 months. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Search:

8 questions lodged at 2023 Pointsbet AGM

November 28, 2023

Below is the text of the 8 written questions lodged at the 2023 Pointsbet hybrid AGM held on November 28, plus a summary of the answers and some video grabs. There were three circa 10% protest votes against a director and 2 rem resolutions.