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Hosting an AGM with hostile shareholders is not pleasant, but clamming up makes things worse

When I started my career as a financial journalist way back in late 1988 in the old Business Day offices (in that wonderful glass edifice called 11 Diagonal Street), the then managing editor, Neil Jacobson, sent me off to the ultracompetitive newsroom with this recommendation: “whatever happens, don’t take anything personally”.

Jacobson’s words have served me well on the numerous occasions I’ve been blasted by edgy executives, slugged it out with fractious sources and tangled with tempestuous colleagues. After 28 years in journalism I still don’t intend taking anything personally — though last Friday afternoon I did come close.

After returning from a surprisingly illuminating Trencor AGM, I scanned the Sens notices that had dropped during the late afternoon. What caught my eye was from poultry group Sovereign Food Investments, whose AGM I eavesdropped on via a dial-in facility last Thursday. The announcement said the company’s joint venture partner in a factory shop venture was Cold Storage Group (CSG).

Identifying the joint venture partner in this lucrative little operation is prudent, since the issue was repeatedly raised at the AGM. What did rub me a little raw was the company’s contention that the disclosure was made “to avoid further inaccurate and misleading reporting on the matter”. Huh?

But let me look past that slight on my reporting skills, and rather reach out a helpful hand to Sovereign. I would humbly suggest the company directors consider that their handling of questions around the identity of the joint venture partner just might have contributed to an atmosphere of suspicion among certain shareholders (and observers, for that matter).

I revisited the transcript of