5 questions lodged at 2025 Endeavour Group hybrid AGM
November 17, 2025
Below is the text of the 5 written questions submitted at the 130 minute Endeavour Group (EDV) 10am hybrid AGM in Sydney and via the Link platform on November 17, 2025. Market cap $6.6b on AGM day after another bad year. Interesting that ASA recommended against two directors. See notice of meeting and voting results with biggest protest 21.4% against the remuneration report. The proxies were not disclosed early with the formal addresses or even before the debate on each item, so this was never explained. David Kingston gave them a good working over from the floor and this speaker was definitely the quirkier contributor from the floor. See my ridiculous 45 questions lodged at last 4 Endeavour AGMs.
Q1. We've had 3 chairs at the last 3 AGMs. Could Duncan Makeig summarise what other major public company chairing experience he has had and what changes he has implemented since replacing Ari Mervis as chair? Also, what is Duncan's history in personally owning and managing pubs?
Answer: The acting acting chair Penny Winn, the newest director, was strangely given the chairing role for this item and offered little useful insight because she wasn't on the board when the revolving door was working overtime in the board and executive ranks. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q2. As chair of the company and a member of the audit committee, could Duncan Makeig comment on why we do not publicly disclose our gross gaming revenue, when this is a material number? Then Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci made a silly claim 6 years ago suggesting it was only about $700m, a number he got to by excluding the Mathieson's family 25% stake in ALH & deducting state gaming taxes, which average about 30%. Star, Sky City, Crown and Redcape all disclosed gross gaming revenue when they were listed. Why won't you disclose it and is it more than $1.5b?
Answer: The acting chair Duncan Makeig offered no useful response except to say this issue was raised earlier in the meeting. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q3. As a rare long serving Endeavour Group director, could Jo Pollard please comment on the progress she believes the board has made on responsible gaming. Is she comfortable with the Australian Hotels Association, which Endeavour Group is the largest member of, campaigning hard against mandatory cashless poker machines across the country, in order to reduce money laundering and gambling harm. If casinos are facing this, why are we fighting it?
Answer: The acting chair Duncan Makeig didn't let candidate Jo Pollard answer and hinted that Endeavour has different positions from the AHA which is dominated by smaller family-owned hotels. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q4. Does Peter Hardy receive any other payments from the Bruce Mathieson Group apart from the fees he is paid to represent them on this board. Could he also please comment on how he is treating confidentiality in terms of reporting back to the family and does he report more to Bruce Mathieson senior or Bruce Mathieson junior? Finally, given the family Mathieson have put more than $250m into casino company Star Entertainment, does Peter agree we should infer that they are unlikely to increase their stake in Endeavour Group?
Answer: The acting chair Duncan Makeig gave a farcical non-answer when this was a question that only Hardy could answer. Watch video of exchange via Twitter. Also, watch this earlier question directed at Hardy from David Kingston, which the acting chair made clear he would take, sparking a further intervention from Kingston which drew strong applause from the floor. And still Makeig insisted on hogging all the questions. Hopeless chairing.
Q5. Why have you paid for microphones to be installed in front of all of the directors if the plan always was for the acting chair to handle all questions. Could remuneration committee chair Joe Pollard please prove that her microphone is working by just saying "hello". Also will you disclose the head count data with the poll results so we can see how many shareholders voted for and against each item, like with a scheme of arrangement?
Answer: Not asked, possibly because it was lodged too late although a couple of minutes had passed.
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