Annual general meetings rarely get more disastrous than James Hardie’s did this week. Within just 17 minutes, shareholders dismissed the company chair and two other directors, delivered a remuneration strike, and blocked an extraordinary attempt to lower the hurdles on the CEO’s bonus.
Following its highly controversial merger with Azek — in which management ran roughshod over Australian investors and even drew the ire of Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund — the AGM was a rare public demonstration of “the consequences of governance failures”, according to Australian Shareholders Association CEO Rachel Waterhouse.
“The outcome at James Hardie shows that shareholders can drive change when confidence in leadership breaks down,” Waterhouse told Capital Brief. “Many shareholders will feel relieved to see accountability in action.”
As explosive as that may be just two weeks into this year’s AGM season, corporate Australia has plenty more fireworks.
