Wolf Money(Haw Par AGM Questions and Answers)
AGM is the best time for asking questions. It is the only time of the year for the shareholders to put their board of directors and CEO to the test with some questions, some difficult one can throw them off course. It is also the only time of the year to make your board of directors and ceo work for their money. Haha. Here are my questions to Haw Par Corporation. Sometime I might just throw them a hard one to spice up the AGM. Management replies are in green.
1.) There is an outstanding borrowing of $28.5m, why is there a need to borrow given the strong financial status of the Company and the high interest cost environment?
Management made a strategic decision to partially hedge the foreign currency exposure of the long term investments that were purchased in 2022 and the foreign currency denominated borrowing of S$28.5m is used to achieve this objective.
2.) Are there plans to redevelop those properties which are underperforming?
Save for our office building in Kuala Lumpur, the Group’s investment properties are generally well occupied. For now, the Malaysia property is cash flow positive. Plans for redevelopment will be considered at an opportune time.
3.) The fees for board of directors had increased substantially, can the BODs and management also take into consideration the minority shareholders desire for higher dividend given the high inflationary environment when proposing dividend for the next reporting year?
Management conducted a review of the Company’s current non-executive directors’ (“NED”) fee structure against companies with similar market capitalisation and have subsequently proposed to adjust the base fees for each NED. The increase is intended to commensurate with the increasing work and responsibilities for each NED in light of the smaller board size and to be in line with market rate. The NED rate was last adjusted in 2019. Furthermore, in conjunction with the increase in base fee, we have proposed to increase and relate the board committee fees as a percentage/ratio of base fee, as guided by the ranges recommended by the Singapore Institute of Directors (“SID”). The last time board committee fees were revised was in 2014. Changes in base fee structure and the Board Committee fee structure can be found on Page 43 of the Annual Report in the Corporate Governance section.
For FY2022, together with the interim dividend paid in September 2022, the Company has declared 45% of its FY2022 earnings as dividends. The Company notes the desire for higher dividend.
There are some other interesting questions asked. The AGM questions and answers made an interesting read. I have enclosed the link below. See you at AGM next Tues if anyone is attending. God Bless.
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