4 questions lodged at 2024 Next DC hybrid AGM
November 22, 2024
Below is the text of the 4 written questions submitted at the Next DC hybrid AGM held on November 22, 2024.
Q1. Australia is in the midst of an unprecedented deluge of takeovers that has contributed to listed entities on the ASX falling by 176 to 2,118 since June 2022, including 21 straight months of declines. There have already been 27 takeovers above $200m completed so far this calendar year. There is a clear mis-pricing between public markets and private markets. Why are public markets not valuing ASX listed companies like ours more highly and what are we doing to avoid being gobbled up like so many other companies?
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? 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.
Q3. When disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions, could you please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment on all resolutions and insight into the chronically low retail shareholder participation rate. Others have already blazed the trail as this was a voluntary disclosure initiative adopted by the likes of Qantas, ASX, Suncorp, Tabcorp and Computershare during the current AGM season.
Q4. The 5 most valuable US big tech stocks - Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Nvidia - are together worth more than $20 trillion. Could the CEO comment on how reliant we are on big technology and what would we do if any of them suddenly put their prices up by 30%?
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