6 questions lodged at 2025 WAM Research hybrid AGM

Q1. What has been the Wilson stable's history with Droneshield and what does the chair think about the events of the past week?

Answer: Not asked but a fund manager later said they'd have sold all their shares if they held any after the 3 directors did the now notorious $70 million sell down.

Q2. When did we last tender the external audit and when are we next likely to tender the external audit? How many different Pitchers partners do we use across the group and how much money overall is the group saving by not using a Big Four audit firm?

Answer: The CFO said they decided to do a tender after I asked about this issue last year, so we would soon find out the cost differential between Pitchers and Big Four competitors. Well done. Delighted to hear that. What then followed was a condescending disclosure of my 10 WAX shares by Geoff Wilson which was both gratuitous and irrelevant. Yes Geoff, you're richer than me. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q3. Thank you for not asking for an extra 10% placement capacity again at WAM Research, like you did last year? Will Geoff Wilson undertake to never do that again at any LIC that he chairs as super-sized 25% placements are poor form? Does WAM vote against requests for extra placement capacity at other public companies, as a matter of course?

Answer: Bagged WAM Research for asking for the 10% last year, so this should have been an easy win. But no, Geoff Wilson came out and said he would resume asking for the extra 10% in future years for his LICs under the $300 million limit, for flexibility reasons. If Geoff wants to be a champion of retail shareholders he needs to drop this position on the extra 10% placement capacity for companies, as it is an authority that constantly leads to super-sized placements which dilute retail shareholders. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q4. It is disrespectful to shareholders holding 7 AGMs in one day and also poor form for multiple directors not to front at this WAM Research AGM. Where are they? The AFIC stable spreads its AGMs out of over 2 days and they've only got 4. Will you undertake that this will be the last time you run 7 AGMs on the one day and that in 2026 you will have multiple days where you run multiple meetings, something which has not happened in 2025?

Answer: Geoff Wilson responded by sneeringly disclosing the size of my shareholding (privacy anyone?) then took a straw poll on having 9 AGMs on 9 separate days, which wasn't my request. A few hands in the air from his fans in the room was taken as a mandate for 9 in one day. Pathetic. Watch video of exchange via Twitter, plus this video of Geoff Wilson closing the meeting prematurely shortly before 10am with questions still unanswered because he had another AGM to run, which pretty much confirmed the point about indecent haste and lack of respect.

Q5. Best practice these days is to disclose the proxy position to the ASX along with the chair's address. Why haven't you done that and will you also continue the excellent practice you started last year by disclosing the headcount data in the poll results, like with a scheme of arrangement. This makes public retail shareholder sentiment and encourages further voting participation in the future.

Answer: Geoff Wilson didn't make a lot of sense with his answer. He delayed disclosure of double digit rem protest votes at multiple WAM AGMs across the course of the day when he should just disclose the proxies early. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q6. What is Julian's view about holding back to back AGMs 45 minutes apart? Surely spreading them over two days would make more sense. Also, why haven't multiple directors fronted at today's AGM?

Answer: Geoff Wilson and his obliging director mate Julian Gosse really showed how not to answer a question properly with this joint effort. Julian reckons it's a great idea to have 7 straight AGMs 45 minutes apart. Wilson wants to return to the usual 9. A joke approach that disrespects shareholders. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

What is going on with Climate Capital boss and WAM Research director John Abernathy?

The situation with Clime Capital was also interesting after a shareholder raised concerns from the floor about this recent feature article in The Australian on October 24. It led to a somewhat rambling and tortuous exchange as Geoff Wilson attempted to defend his fellow WAM Research director and Clime boss John Abernathy, who failed to turn up at the meeting.

Watch Geoff Wilson get stuck into ASIC for making a comment to The Australian about Clime and its ties to the Shield collapse as a recipient of funds to be managed. He reckons ASIC later corrected itself, and they did indeed put this statement out confirming the investigation after The Australian first broke the story.

There was then this further exchange where Geoff Wilson said he had investigated the matter and had no concern about the credibility of Clime or John Abernathy.

And on it went with fellow director Julian Gosse & Geoff Wilson further discussing the issue. It was a little strange how Gosse took a crack at the press but then agreed with the shareholder comment about “where there's smoke there's fire”.

Copyright © 2025 The Mayne Report. All rights reserved

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