The day Woolies almost got a new director
January 14, 2008
This Samantha Magnusson article in The Australian followed the extraordinary developments at the Woolworths AGM in 2001 when I was almost elected and suffered a dreadful breach of process.
Woolworths shareholders took to the floor in record numbers yesterday, probing the company's board of directors in unprecedented fashion.
Not satisfied with a strong stock and healthy earnings, shareholders attending Woolworths annual meeting in Sydney raised issues as diverse
as discount cards, shopping trolleys and plastic bags as checkouts.
They also showed a heightened awareness about the company's litigation with Westfield Holdings, competition from discount German supermarket chain Aldi and the retailer's accounts.
But the most compelling display of renewed shareholder power was the massive 44.5 per cent of proxy holders who voted in favour of shareholder activist and board nominee, Stephen Mayne. This forced chairman John Dahlsen to use his proxy vote to defeat the nomination.
The chairman's proxy vote comprises voting rights are not exercised by small shareholders but handed over to the chairman to vote as he sees fit. But the vote did not go to a poll after Mr Mayne was defeated by a small margin with a show of hands from the floor.
Mr Dahlsen later told reporters that by nominating and asking questions from the floor Mr Mayne was encouraging other shareholders to raise more questions at AGMs and raise the standard of those questions.
"I think we had more questions than we've had in the last two meeting I've chaired. I think almost double,'' he said.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that for the first time this year shareholders are starting to take a more active role in their investments, demanding more transparency from their directors.
But Mr Dahlsen was not ready to acknowledge the extraordinary level of support that Mr Mayne had received from other shareholders and suggested the vote was misleading.
"What we think happened is that the proxy forms have gone out to our shareholders, particularly overseas shareholders and they have simply ticked the boxes,'' Mr Dahlsen said.
If the company was allowed to indicate in the notice of meeting it was not in favour of Mr Mayne's nomination, then the outcome would have been different, he said.
Chief executive Roger Corbett earlier told the 700 shareholders at the meeting the future of the approved buyback of up to 100 million shares depended on the second-quarter trading results and possible small scale acquisitions.
The company also told shareholders that first quarter sales had been strong but they might no continue at the same ``outstanding'' pace that they had throughout the year. the company did not alter its trading forecasts.
Woolworths shares closed down 12c on $7.85 after heading above $8 for the first time last Wednesday.
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