Early votes tell us what to expect at Woodside’s annual meeting. It’s clear nvestors want more action on emissions, particularly at a big oil and gas producer.
While the official vote on the chairman’s board seat is not until 10am on Wednesday in Perth , the early votes are firmly in his favour and are enough to ensure he is re-elected for a third and final want the company to move faster, while others are fixated on near and medium-term returns and only want changes where IRRs stack up. Can you do both at the same time?Woodside, the ASX’s biggest listed oil and gas player, shows us it is a juggling act, and one that it is losing.
As frustrating as that is, Goyder’s Woodside board and Meg O’Neill’s management team has to go back to the drawing board.
Goyder can thank a few of his big shareholders for their public support leading into the contentious meeting, most notably AustralianSuper and Allan Gray, who helped stem any run on his board seat.AustralianSuper’s vote is particularly telling – a vote for Goyder’s re-election but against the climate plan, which sums up the mood among most institutional investors and their proxy advisers.
At the heart of the debate is whether Woodside’s growth projects – its $16.5 billion Scarborough gas project in Western Australia, its proposed $US7.2 billion Trion oil and gas project in Mexico and its $US5.2 billion Sangomar project about to start up in Senegal – can align with Paris Agreement goals.
Global proxy house CGI Glass Lewis poured fuel on the fire when it recommended shareholders voted against Goyder’s re-election a fortnight ago,. Its rival proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services, Ownership Matters and the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, have all backed Goyder for another three-year term.is a Chanticleer columnist.
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