Endeavour shareholders deny Wavish board spot

The news: Billionaire pub baron Bruce Mathieson has failed in his campaign to install Bill Wavish on the board of Dan Murphy's and BWS owner Endeavour, The Australian reports.

The numbers: Proxy votes showed 27.8% support for Wavish's election at today's AGM. About 333.9 million of the 1.2 billion votes lodged backed the motion. EDV shares were up about 1.3% at 1:20pm AEDT, at $4.975.

The context: Mathieson, the group's largest shareholder with a more than 15% stake in the company, had been publicly campaigning for the election of Wavish, a former Myer executive, to the board. Mathieson had blamed poor management from executive leaders and the board for the steady decline of the company's share price, which has sunk by a quarter in 2023.

What they said: "We acknowledge — and share — the concerns of our investors regarding our share price performance. We clearly have more to do to deliver the performance and shareholder returns that investors expect," Endeavour chief executive Steve Donohue told shareholders in his AGM address.