AGMs

6 questions lodged at TWE AGM


October 19, 2023

Here are the 6 online questions lodged at the 2023 TWE hybrid AGM, held on October 16. They weren't asked in the end as I attended and this stuffed up the online questions. See webcast of AGM with key exchanges starting 83 minutes into proceedings. A big 47% protest vote against rem report. See AAP coverage of meeting.

1. In 2019, Treasury Wine Estates voluntarily moved to annual elections for directors in line with best practice laws in the US and the UK. Dual listed companies like News Corp and Rio Tinto all do this due to the laws in the US and UK and BHP has continued doing it even after its UK DLC ended in 2021. Can the chair comment on why no other ASX listed companies have followed our commendable lead and whether he has received much feedback from other chairs, particularly after I've asked almost 50 of them to follow your lead with online questions like this one at their AGMs.

2. Could the CEO summarise his past LTI grants as to whether they have vested or lapsed. Also, has he ever sold any ordinary shares in the company or bought any on market without relying on an incentive scheme to build his equity position in the company? Please don't say look it up in the annual report and through ASX announcements. It's complicated and the CEO could factually summarise the situation in 60 seconds.

3. Thank you for offering shareholders a hybrid AGM this year and will you commit to keep doing this in future years to maximise shareholder participation? Also, could you please publish a full transcript of this year's AGM debate. In terms of sampling our product after the meeting, don't you think a 10am Monday morning start is a bit early. Why not shift next year's AGM to level 17 of the RACV Club starting at 4pm. Transurban once packed this venue out with an evening AGM and you could do likewise and then showcase your product in a nice environment with a variety of stakeholders.

4. The likes of Dexus, Brambles, NAB, JB Hi Fi, Origin Energy, Viva Energy and many other companies have all disclosed the proxy votes to the ASX before their latest AGMs started along with the formal addresses. Will the board agree to do this next year so that interested shareholders and other stakeholders, including institutional investors and proxy advisers, have an early insight into the proxy position before the AGM debate commences. Why withhold only the voting data slides from the presentations lodged with the ASX when this can easily be disclosed at a time of the company's choosing during the meeting itself without disrespecting those participating in the debate. If you haven't revealed the proxies on the remuneration report as this is being read out, please do so now.

5. 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 has this led to any material proxy protest votes? Please describe the engagement we had with the various proxy advisers and major shareholders before today's AGM?

6. Retail shareholder voting turnout at AGMs has fallen to less than 5% as we feel powerless in the face of institutional voting. What is the point of voting? Therefore, when disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions today, including the remuneration report, could you please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to what happens with a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment on all resolutions and was a voluntary disclosure initiative adopted by the likes of Metcash, Altium, Dexus, Webjet, Tabcorp and Myer over the past two years.