2 questions lodged at 2024 ANZ hybrid AGM
December 21, 2024
Below is the text of the 2 written questions submitted at the 4 hour and 43 minute ANZ hybrid AGM held on December 19, 2024, plus a summary of the answers and some video grabs via Twitter. They disclosed these proxies early and copped a rem strike plus near defeat of Shayne Elliott's LTI grant which was withdrawn. There was also 27% support for a hostile shareholder resolution on climate.
Q1. There are multiple governance issues with today's AGM. Firstly, you shouldn't have banned online voting, particularly after warning shareholders to stay away due to security risks. Secondly, it is poor form to not follow the agenda and instead offer just one jumbled job lot for questions. With a 38% rem strike, a 49% protest vote against the CEO's LTI grant, a shareholder resolution on climate and 3 directors up for election, all these issues should be debated and voted on sequentially. You don't ignore the agenda in board meetings, so why do it at the AGM? You are also continuing with the poor practice of holding a rushed pre-Christmas AGM which means external nominations for the board closed before you've even revealed how the directors performed for the year. On the positive front, thank you for disclosing the proxies early to the ASX. Did this only happen because you had to explain why you were withdrawing Shane's LTI grant as I asked for this early disclosure last year and you refused?
Answer: The chair Paul O'Sullivan said the early disclosure decision was made before Shayne Elliott walked away from his LTI grant. His defence of abandoning the agenda was that activists gamed the system previously, taking multiple opportunities to raise their issues. Watch video of exchange via Twitter, plus these additional comments fleshing out the answer.
Q2. ANZ has more than 400,000 shareholders but less than 2% of them will have voted today, exacerbated by the needless ban on live online voting at today's AGM. When disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions today, but particularly the 3 contentious items which attracted material votes against the board's recommendation, please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to with a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment and insight into the chronically low retail shareholder participation rate. The likes of Qantas, ASX, Suncorp, Tabcorp and even our own share registry provider Computershare have all voluntarily provided this data during the current AGM season. You've moved on early proxy disclosure today, will you also move on providing extra voting data in the poll outcome announcement? You've got the data, so why not let the sun shine in and reveal what the retail shareholders thought about today's resolution, rather than just the institutional holders which dominate corporate voting in Australia?
Answer: They failed to deliver in these poll results and the arguments mounted by chair Paul O'Sullivan were weak. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Copyright © 2024 The Mayne Report. All rights reserved
