4 questions lodged at 2026 Perenti (PRN) hybrid AGM
October 16, 2026
Below is the text of the 4 written questions submitted at the 65 minute Perenti (PRN) 10.30am Perth time hybrid AGM at the Parmelia Hilton and via the MUFG platform. See notice of meeting detailing 5 resolutions. Own 13 shares. See 5 questions asked at 2025 AGM. Market cap was $1.82b on AGM day. The proxies were not disclosed early in the formal addresses. The ASA rep on the floor was the only other shareholder asking questions. There were no protest votes even though ASA spoke against the rem report.
Q1. AI tells me that PwC has audited Perenti for 37 years, having been first appointed as the company's external auditor by Ausdrill way back in 1989. Could the latest PwC signing partners present today and the relevant company representatives in attendance, please confer and have a crack at commenting on how many competitive tenders have been conducted during that long tenure? Has there ever been a tender? If so, when was the last tender? And when are we next likely to run a tender?
Answer: The question wrangler, investors relations manager Jono van Hazel, did a bit of tweaking but chair Diana Smith-Gandel gave a considered answer. Sounds like there has never been a tender, partly because PwC is strong when it comes to mining in Africa. There are always seemingly good excuses for keeping forever auditors. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q2. Which of the proxy advisers 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 the recommendations are confidential. I'm not asking you to publish their full reports on your website. It is standard for companies to be across this detail on the voting recommendations and inform shareholders where relevant.
Answer: The question wrangler, investors relations manager Jono van Hazel, took this one and said all proxy advisers recommended in favour, which explains why there were no protest votes. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
Q3. What does new CEO Dr Vanessa Torres regard as the biggest changes she has made since joining the company. Has she brought any people into the business who she has worked with before, including from her previous employer South 32? Mining is historically a male dominated industry? What has been the response from Perenti's trail-blazing move of having an all female chair-CEO leadership team? Is it changing the culture at Perenti?
Answer: The question wrangler, investors relations manager Jono van Hazel, censored the italicised component so we only ended up talking about culture and gender. Watch video of exchange via Twitter, plus these additional comments by CEO Vanessa Torres.
Q4. Perenti is very close to running a best practice hybrid AGM, which is rare for Perth-based companies. You just need to disclose the proxies early to the ASX and release the head count data with the poll results, something that many companies now do including Qantas, ASX, Stockland, Tabcorp, Myer, Suncorp and ARB. How about it?
Answer: Why can't Perenti investor relations manager Jono van Hazel just read the written questions as submitted? This watering down reduced the impact and allowed chair Smith-Gander to trot out weak arguments against early proxy disclosure and no argument on releasing head count data. It was just me online and the ASA rep in the room asking questions in Perth. If we both want earlier proxy disclosure, then what is the problem? Watch video of exchange via Twitter.
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