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In this Issue December 2016 Who pays the piper? 2 Sky City Entertainment Group AGM 29 AIA appoints its 3rd Future Director 4 Methven AGM 29 2016 NZSA Business Story of the year 5 Vital HealthcareProperty Trust AGM 30 A Message from the Chairman 2016 Beacon Award Winner Anounced 6 Mercury AGM 31 Membership Gift Certificate 8 NZ Oil and Gas AGM 32 A small step towards Commonsense Tax 8 Barramundi and Marlin Global 33 Investors have certainly had an interesting year! I hope for most of you it Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) 101 - Steel and Tube AGM 34 The latest buzz 9 Delegat Group AGM 34 has been a positive one. The dramas surrounding Pumpkin Patch and especially Company Meetings Airwork Holdings AGM 35 Wynyard will have caught out some, but the correction during October should A2 Milk AGM 11 Tourism Holdings AGM 36 SLI Systems AGM 37 not have surprised market watchers. Political uncertainty around the globe EBOS AGM 13 (and at home) along with likely increases to interest rates and inflation and the Veritas AGM 14 Skellerup Holdings AGM 38 Contact Energy AGM 15 Freightways AGM 39 potential fall in house prices in some overheated areas such as Auckland will Genesis Energy AGM 16 Caught on the Net 40 bring challenges and opportunities. So 2017 certainly promises to be interesting. Comvita AGM 17 Branch Reports Tegel AGM 18 Auckland. 42 For the NZSA, it has been another big year. A highlight (or should that Precinct Properties AGM 19 Waikato 44 really be lowlight?) was our success in removing a sitting director at Rakon. Cavalier Corporation AGM 20 Bay of Plenty. 45 Membership is at an all time high, and our activities continue to see the NZSA Heartland Bank AGM 21 Taranaki 46 Port of Tauranga AGM 22 Wellington 46 held in high regard across the corporate and regulatory world – even if they do The Warehouse Group AGM 22 Canterbury 46 not always agree with us. Members’ Issues Fletcher Building AGM 23 My thanks go to your hard working directors and committee members, my Hellaby Holdings AGM 24 A warning on Perpetuals 47 PGG Wrightson AGM 25 How good is your insurance cover? 47 EA Jacquie Spillane and all those who have assisted the Association in some Abano Healthcare Group AGM 26 ASA gains $A103,400 after German firm way or written to me with advice or words of encouragement. As always much fined for insider trading 48 Meridian Energy AGM 27 remains to be done. The Association is up for the challenge – I hope you will all Southport AGM 28 Upcoming Events 49 come along for the ride! Who Pays the Piper? Beacon Award Winner To everyone, enjoy the festive season, and as always, I hope that 2017 will ASA receives bring health, wealth and happiness to all. “gift” of $103,400 With best wishes, in Insider Trading John Hawkins, settlement ISSN 1179 -4275 Who pays the piper? On 14 July 1789, the French revolution is a lurch to the right, rising inflation began with the storming of the Bastille. Over and potentially a more interventionist the next five years, thousands, including the US foreign policy -which has its own King and Queen were executed as a whole risks, not just for the USA, but for the new order was established. A dictatorial whole world. bankrupt monarchy led to martial law under So, you may ask, what is the point of Napoleon, and ultimately a democratic this history lesson? Well, in each case republic. the trigger was significant inequality On October 25th 1917, the Bolsheviks between the ruling corporate, financial seized power in Russia and a short time and political elite and ordinary people. later, the whole royal family, including young In every case, those at the top enjoyed children, was summarily shot. A dictatorial, a life of massive excess, eye watering bankrupt monarchy became the world’s first incomes and manipulation of power to communist state. make sure the ordinary people paid up In Romania, a revolt against the corrupt, to maintain their life style. 24 year communist dictator, Nicholae In France and Russia, people were Ceausescu began on December 15th 1989. starving. In Romania, it is said that Ceausescu spent By December 24, Ceausescu and his wife were dead. more than 50% of the country’s GDP on his huge The country is now a democracy and member of NATO. “palace.” On June 23rd 2016, British voters elected, by some However, in Britain, the low paid, unemployed, “unedu- margin, to leave the European Economic Community in cated” and those in the neglected and rundown north a stunning “upset”. The outcome in macro-economic ensured Brexit passed. In the USA, the right wing terms remains uncertain, but inflation is sure to rise braggart Donald Trump was supported by a strong initially given the drop in the value of the pound. Britain turnout from poor, disadvantaged and ultra conserv- remains a constitutional monarchy -for the moment. ative groups, many of whom typically don’t bother The reality is that when On November 8th 2016, self-proclaimed billionaire voting. Perhaps they got to the point where they really Donald Trump was elected President of the United the mass of ordinary had nothing more to lose. It seems that the Occupy States, a role he will formally assume on January 20th people are pushed too far, Wall Street protests of a few years ago were indeed a forerunner of things to come – but Wall Street and the 2017. Despite some claims to the contrary, it seems they simply want change. certain that he will favour big business and the wealthy elite were deaf and blind. – his proposals to cut corporate and top tax rates and They don’t care what the The reality is that when the mass of ordinary people greatly alter the low cost “Obama care” health insurance future may hold. are pushed too far, they simply want change. They are hardly “ordinary worker” friendly. The expectation don’t care what the future may hold. They just want to The Scrip December 2016 2 get rid of the present situation, by force if necessary. their remuneration report – effectively a protest vote by The examples above have resulted in outcomes from the owners of the company, the shareholders. A high extreme left to extreme right and everything in between. profile example was CBA Bank where more than 50% In the most recent cases, it seems to me that the excesses of votes cast opposed the report – well in excess of of some multinational and large businesses have been the 25% threshold. This followed uproar over the “soft” a significant factor in people’s disillusionment. During Executives bonuses, were short term incentives proposed for the CBA CEO who the GFC, large investment banks such as Goldman downgraded to a mere is forced to struggle along on a minimum of $12m for Sachs got handouts and almost immediately reinstated 95% Meanwhile, share- the year. For the first time since 2012, executives did massive bonus payments to the very executives that not get 100% of bonuses, suffering a slap with a wet holders will fork out at had got them (and arguably the world) into the mess in bus ticket as these were downgraded to a mere 95% the first place. The sight of CEO’s turning up en masse least $105m to settle instead! Meanwhile, shareholders will fork out at least in their private jets to beg bailouts made headlines shady and downright $105m to settle shady and downright illegal dealings everywhere. The low taxes currently being paid by made by the bank’s management. illegal dealings made by large multinational companies across the world, mostly In our own back yard, A2 Milk recently held its AGM in the bank’s management. completely legally, are perceived as massively unfair by Sydney. 28% of votes opposed a huge hike in director workers who are socked for 20% or 30% or even 40% fees. There is no doubt that A2 has done well in the last on every dollar they earn. 3 years following a long gestation where performance The most recent data shows that over the past 40 was poor. The directors claimed that the proposal was in years, CEO’s in the USA have gone from a ratio of 20x line with the “internationally benchmarked” recommen- average worker pay to 300x, in Europe about 200x and dations of the London based consultants they appointed Australia about 100x, often with little improvement in and paid. Had they published this document or the performance over time. Locally we see ratios of perhaps executive summary as some companies are beginning 30x. to do, all would have been transparent. But they didn’t. In the UK, PM Theresa May has openly warned that legal A2 has set its base directors fees at 73% of the Fonterra action to stop Brexit will test politicians “who should not director fees, and its committee Chair fees at 90% resist the will of the people.” She will also force firms In our own back yard, of Fonterra’s. To put this into perspective, A2 which to publish the ratio between the pay of chief execu- does not even manufacture its own products (Synlait A2 Milk recently held its tives and ordinary workers to stem the increases in “fat does), had revenue in 2016 of $352m and sold in four cat” pay. And a ceiling equivalent to $NZ128, 000 has AGM in Sydney. 28% of markets –mostly in Australasia. In 2015, the fully verti- been placed on government advisor roles.