4 questions lodged at 2025 Coles hybrid AGM

Q1. Could CEO Leah Weckert please comment on how many full time equivalent staff we currently have and whether this is likely to fall over the coming 12 months with the rapid roll out of AI? Which parts of our business and operations are the most prospective for AI productivity gains and how energetically are we embracing those opportunities?

Q2. Congratulations to Peter Allen on being chosen by the board to chair our company. He's a good choice, although the last chair did stay too long. Peter is obviously a quick learner after only joining the board in September last year and then becoming chair 7 months later on May 1 this year. Was Peter recruited last September to be the next chair or was it a competitive internal process this year? Who ran the chair succession process, an external search firm, certain non-candidate directors or the company secretary. How did it work? Did the formal process extend to presentations from multiple internal candidates, interviews and a formal internal vote of the board?

Q3. It was a shame you didn't disclose the proxies to the ASX along with the formal addresses, allowing for a more fully informed debate. Did any of the proxy advisers 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 proxy adviser recommendations are confidential. It is standard for companies to be across this detail on the voting recommendations and inform shareholders where relevant and I could show you examples of more than 50 chairs responding positively to this question.

Q4. When disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions today, including this proposed LTI grant to the CEO, please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to with a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment on all resolutions and insight into the chronically low retail shareholder participation rate. The likes of Qantas, ASX, Suncorp, Tabcorp, Myer, Flight Centre, Stockland and even the world's biggest share registry provider Computershare have all voluntarily provided this data at their most recent AGMs. You've got the data, so why not let the sun shine in? Qantas revealed last week that less than 1% of its 155,000 shareholders voted at the AGM. How many of our 408,551 shareholders voted today on this LTI grant and were the majority against. Did you even make it to a 1% turnout?

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