5 questions lodged at 2025 Helia hybrid AGM

Q1. Which of the 5 main proxy advisers - ACSI, Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis, ISS and ASA - covered us this year and did any recommend a vote against any of today's resolutions, including this remuneration report item? If so, what reasons did they give and did this translate into any material protest votes? Please don't say they are confidential. It is standard for companies to be across this detail on the voting recommendations and inform shareholders where relevant.

Answer: The chair Leona Murphy said all issued reports apart from ASA and only one recommended against, which I'm guessing was ISS given the size of the protest votes that followed, presumably mainly from the big index funds. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q2. Could CEO Pauline Blight-Johnston summarise her past LTI grants as to whether they have vested or lapsed or are likely to vest or lapse based on the current performance metrics. 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: The CEO was happy to explain that she enjoyed 25% vesting on the 2020 grant and 100% vesting on the 2021 grant. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q3. Thank you for disclosing the proxy position to the ASX prior to the AGM commencing. There was a circa 22% protest vote against all 3 of the directors up for election today. Could Alistair Muir please comment on any direct engagement he had with proxy advisers or institutional investors who might have delivered this protest vote against him. Does he believe the uniform against vote with all candidates today reflects general discontent about the recent performance and the CEO share sale issue, as opposed to individual concerns?

Answer: The chair invited Alistair up to the front who said he'd had no engagement with proxy advisers or individual investors and then rightly put it back to the chair to answer. The chair had earlier blamed the CEO share sale controversy for the protest votes. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q4. Could new directors Andrew Moore and JoAnne Stephenson, along with the chair, comment on the recruitment process that led to their appointment to the board. Which head hunter was involved, did the full board interview each candidate as a group or individually and did they interview any other candidates in a genuinely competitive process? Did either of the new directors know any of the existing directors before engaging with the recruitment process?

Answer: The chair gave an excellent summary of a solid process, including that 3 recruitment firms tendered for the job to run the search process. Both new directors are strong appointments with relevant experience and expertise. Watch video of exchange via Twitter, plus these additional comments by the chair explaining the process.

Q5. I'm puzzled by the 21.4% proxy protest vote against JoAnne Stephenson's election & suspect it was delivered by a small number of big investors. In light of this, when disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions, including Joanne's election, please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for & against each item, similar to with a scheme. This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment & insight into the chronically low retail voting rate. The likes of Qantas, ASX, Suncorp, Tabcorp & Computershare all do this.

Answer: The chair made no commitments but at least didn't give a straight refusal. Watch video of exchange via Twitter. Lo and behold, Helia then later delivered the goods. Well done and thank you.

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