Gift for Tatts CEO in 2006
January 14, 2008
Herald Sun reporter Matthew Charles produced this account of the Tattersall's AGM held on November 30, 2006.
Former Tattersall's boss Duncan Fischer has 1.3 million reasons to thank company chairman Harry Boon and fellow directors. Mr Fischer's $1.3 million farewell gift attracted a handsome protest vote at the company's annual meeting yesterday, in the third instance this week that institutional shareholders are getting disdainful of executive largesse.
The decision to approve a $1.3 million payment – the most controversial part of Mr Fischer's $4.4 million retirement package – went down to the wire. The poll saw 193.4 million votes against the proposal compared with almost 191.6 million in support.
Mr Boon used undirected proxy votes he held as chairman to vote in favour of the proposal, getting it over the line. That led to 333.8 million voting in favour and 220.8 million against.
The backlash follows similar revolts against Tabcorp and Zinifex on Monday. Tabcorp was forced to withdraw a proposal to grant chief executive Matthew Slatter 2.5 million options because the original performance hurdles were deemed to be too low.
And more than 40 per cent of Zinifex's shareholders voted against chief executive Greg Gailey's pay packet – a $22 million package of performance shares owing to him.
Tattersall's shareholders grilled Mr Boon for about three hours.
Share activists Stephen Mayne and the Australian Shareholders' Association's John Curry dominated proceedings, probing everything from board attitudes to problem gambling to Mr Fischer's pay.
Mr Curry said the package was "excessive'' but it needed to be honoured. He argued the $1.3 million payment was unacceptable. Mr Fischer's pay package controversially included $14 million in free shares granted to him when Tattersall's was still a secretive trust.
"Such a contract is excessive by today's standards,'' Mr Curry said.
Mr Boon said Tattersall's founder George Adams had decreed employees share in the group's wealth.
"He was the chief employee, he got the chief share,'' Mr Boon said.
In any case, Mr Boon noted it was a small cost to pay considering the company's share price had increased 30 per cent and the market value had grown $1 billion since merging with Unitab.
After the meeting, chief executive Dick McIlwain said the company was tracking well in the first quarter. He explained that the decision to team up with Macquarie Bank to snag British gaming group Talarius was a marriage of convenience. The $338.4 million acquisition should be completed by February.
However, he indicated Tattersall's would move to complete control over the venture in several years' time.
"I don't know how long Macquarie will be there,'' he said. "They won't always be there.''
Tattersall's share price was off 1 to $3.81 while Tabcorp firmed 1 to $16.31.
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