AGMs

6 questions asked at 2023 Tabcorp AGM


October 26, 2023

Here is the text of the 6 written questions asked at the 2023 Tabcorp hybrid AGM held on October 26, along with a summary of some of the answers and some video grabs.

1. In 2019, Treasury Wine Estates voluntarily moved to annual elections for directors in line with best practice that occurs in both 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 whether our company will follow this TWE lead and move to annual elections of directors at the 2023 AGM?

Answer: chair Bruce Akhurst said he'd never looked at this but they'd check out the US and UK system. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

2. Could new director Karen Stocks and the chair comment on the recruitment process that led to her appointment to the board. Was a head hunter involved, did the full board interview Karen and did they interview any other candidates? Did Karen know any of our directors before engaging with the recruitment process?

Answer: the perfect answer because the chair said a headhunter was used and Karen knew none of the directors before joining the board. As the former CEO of Twitter Australia and now a senor Google executive, she certainly brings much-needed digital expertise. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

3. It's great that our relationship with Sam at Bell's Hotel is great. How are we going with Endeavour Group and the Mathieson family at the moment. Is our position protected as board control of the biggest pubs group in the company plays out? What impact could the Endeavour fight have on Tabcorp and what is our current relationship with Endeavour?

Answer: CEO Adam unsurprisingly said relations were good with Endeavour Group - watch video of exchange.

4. 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.

Answer: At first Adam didn't quite comprehend the question and had to have it read out again. Then he talked about LTI schemes all the way back until 2010 and then he remarkably said that he'd recently bought more shares on market than he could really afford. Sounds like a crazy-brave punter, which is perhaps appropriate for a gambling CEO. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

5. Tabcorp responded positively to a request at the 2022 AGM & disclosed voting results by both shares & shareholders, like a scheme of arrangement. This showed that 1,813 or 53.15% of the 3,411 shareholders who voted opposed the CEO grant to the LTI but in terms of shares, the support was 98.74%. Tabcorp has 150,000 shareholders so the turnout was only 2.27% but 65.5% or 1.457b of the 2.225b shares on issue were voted on the LTI grant. Will you repeat the best practice voting disclosure on all items, including rem, this year?

Answer:

6. Last question Given the interesting discussions across a range of topics today, including this LTI grant, could the chair undertake to make an archived copy of the webcast plus a full transcript of proceedings available on the website? The likes of Nine, AGL, ASX, ANZ, Domino's and Lend Lease all produced their 1st AGM transcripts in 2021. Will you follow suit today? This is something IAG has been doing since 2003. Also, why not disclose the proxies to the ASX along with the formal addresses like many others now do.

Answer: chair Bruce Akhurst declined the transcript and early disclosure of proxies response - see video of exchange via Twitter.