Q1. Any early thoughts on what Trump's re-election will mean for the gold price? Is the rise of crypto a potential threat to gold as a store of value. Surely we'd oppose the Trump idea of the US Government establishing a central reserve of crypto currencies when they should be focusing on building their gold reserves.
Answer: The question wrangler totally butchered this, so the chair got away with saying no comment as if it was an inappropriate question, which it wasn't. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q2. Did any of the 5 main proxy advisers - ACSI, Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis, ISS and ASA - recommend a vote against any of today's resolutions? If so, what reasons did they give and will you disclose the proxy votes before the debate on each resolution so shareholders can ask questions about the reasons if there have been any protest votes? Please don't say they are confidential. It is standard for companies to be across this detail on the voting recommendations and inform shareholders where relevant without publishing the full proxy adviser reports, of course.
Answer: Between a butchering by the questions wrangler, attempts to not answer by the chair and then a garbled comment on what the votes were, followed by a "they're confidential", this was arguably the worst ever response to this standard proxy adviser question, including appalling camera work at my end. Watch this video of the full catastrophe via Twitter.
Q3. Thanks for offering a hybrid AGM this year, which allows us east coast shareholders to participate and vote live on the day without having to fly to the world's most isolated city. Also, why not disclose the proxy position to the ASX with the formal addresses, which would allow for a more fully informed AGM debate. The only additional request I've got is disclosure of the poll results by both shares and shareholders, so we can see what the sentiment was amongst retail shareholders and just how low retail voting rates have fallen since the move away from paper voting.
Answer: The chair and censorious question wrangler were talking over each as they attempted to justify not answering the question or revealing the proxy position. Chair claimed there was no need for early proxy disclosure because they were all strongly in favour. The question wrangler finished up with “there's no legal obligation to do so”. Watch this video of the full farce via Twitter.
Q4. How long has the current audit firm been in place, when we did we last run a full tender for the job and when are we next intending to tender our audit work?
Answer: The only one of 5 questions actually dealt with professionally and answered. The chair said EY were installed 5 years ago when they decided to go top tier after making their Hemi gold discovery. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q5. The $600m capital raising in May was a shocker for retail shareholders. The $344 million placement component was oversized and the $256 million non-renounceable entitlement offer should not have limited retail overs to just 50% of entitlement. The end result was your 13,000 retail shareholders only contributed $43m of the $600m raise and the under-writers finished with a $43m retail shortfall. Will you do a PAITREO raise next time that treats all shareholders equally and don't you owe your retail shareholders a share purchase plan to make good for the dilution they suffered without compensation from the badly structured raise.
Answer: The question wrangler totally butchered this, so the chair gave a confused answer. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
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