Bunching up of AGMs in April getting worse, says report

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#1
Bunching up of AGMs in April getting worse, says report
Nearly 100 held on each of the last two business days of April last year, worse than in 2015; this will worsen in 2017 as new requirements kick in

by MICHELLE QUAH

LISTED companies are continuing to cluster their annual general meetings (AGMs) around the same handful of days a year - in particular, the last two business days of April.

And the situation is very likely going to get worse going forward, with new requirements - which could involve more board deliberations pushing back the AGM dates - kicking in.

However, there have also been positive developments in the holding of shareholder meetings. Regulators seem to be getting stricter in granting companies waivers from holding their AGMs within the stipulated time, and there is evidence of growing shareholder activism.

These were among the key findings of "The Singapore Report on Shareholder Meetings: Dawn of Activism", authored by corporate-governance advocate Associate Professor Mak Yuen Teen of the National University of Singapore Business School and MBA graduate and active investor Chew Yi Hong.

More details in http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companie...ays-report
Specuvestor: Asset - Business - Structure.
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#2
And RegCo CEO Tan Boon Gin speaks, and then ends with a threat.

SGX RegCo requires large issuers to take lead to reduce AGM crunch

Accordingly, SGX RegCo will require large issuers to take the lead, to ensure that their AGMs do not conflict with the AGM of another large issuer.

SGX RegCo will facilitate this by maintaining a calendar of AGMs of large issuers to facilitate shareholder participation. Large issuers will be requested to submit their proposed date and time period of their upcoming AGM to SGX RegCo.

SGX RegCo will separately reach out to identified issuers to provide more details on the arrangement. SGX RegCo expects all identified issuers, in particular their board chairpersons, to enable early preparations for their AGMs and work with us to address the issue of AGM clustering. The implementation of these arrangements will be reviewed periodically.

Should the AGM clustering of large issuers persist, more prescriptive requirements may have to be put in place.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/compani...agm-crunch
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#3
I like AGMs, and attend 5-10 such meetings a year for the past 2 decades.
Over the years, i have grown to prefer attending AGMs (physical) of small caps as I find such meetings can provide real value adds. Value adds that I cannot get elsewhere.
At AGMs of big caps, there are always big crowds and it is hard to even get close or spend enough quality time with the people. Management of big caps are usually very careful with what they say and everything is just what you can read in the reports. Basically after a bigcap AGM, i rarely feel like I had gained something in terms of investing in that company.

Smallcaps may hold their AGMs in their company HQ premise. It is good to visit and get a vibe of the physical location, their operations, people, etc. Many small caps are family controlled, founder-type holding a controlling stake. Bosses of small caps are more likely and at ease to tell you more about how business/industry had been and what may be upcoming. Not in the generic form that are usually found in reports. I am not saying it is price-sensitive info but someone already experienced in the analysis of that company can form some conclusions.

E.g. I used to frequent the AGM of a particular smallcap. The founder/chairman will always sit with the shareholders at the table during the break or after the meeting and talk to us. The turnout is usually not big and I always enjoyed just sitting there and listening to him talk. He likes to talk and he is kind of the big brother in his particular industry locally.

Sometimes I get to directly ask the managment specific questions that directly impact my decision to invest. Some years ago, there was a proposed SOA for a local smallcap by a foreign party. The offer price was a good several times the market share price just before the event. Too good to be true. Problem was that the offerer was an unknown foreign party and shareholders were not too confident. The share price tripled but still at a good discount to the offer price up till the end.
At the EGM to vote, I was surprised that the turnout was even lower than the usual AGM of that company. I was not too confident the offerer had the means to pay. So I asked the CFO his opinion on this. Of course the CFO did not give us an official reply. But after the meeting I talked to him and manage to get his response. Just his opinion about the financial health of the offerer. I then had the confident to hold on my shares till the end and get paid the full offer price. 

I have so many AGMs stories to tell.
This company IPOed and made many positive annoucements shortly after that. --> MOUs, partnership to expand, etc. But covid came and all of these became silent. Performance was stagnant and share price slowly dipped to 20% of IPO. For me, I became very involved in my attention to this company and its industry. I think it has the potential to do really well once it gets its footing. During an e-AGM, I made some encouraging comments to the management. Most shareholders then were negative and not surprisingly so. Share price tanked and no dividends for years. Apparently, the CEO/founder/chairman (same person) took notice of my positive comments. He invited me to lunch at his office. We spent a few hours in his office chatting. I had already read up so much about this guy and the company he founded from media throught the years. But what I gained during those few hours spent with him cannot be valued.

Sometimes it is bad as well.
This I will reveal the name of the company. Jurong Hi tech.
Sometime in around 2005-2007 before the company went bust, I attended the AGM. I was not that experienced yet and I am saying all these in hindsight. The business was already not so good. Motorola was by far the main customer but their mobile phones were going out of fashion. So Jurong contracting business was going downhill and share price followed. They could not find replacement. At the AGM, so few people turned up. I think less than 10. We simply sat around the conference table in their meeting room at the company hq somewhere in Tuas. Management was entertaining us giving us samples of products that even at that time I felt were unpromising. The vibes were bad I remember. I should have sold all my shares that day but regretably I did not. What happened shortly after, you can google to find out. I ended up with some useless paper share certificates which I still keep today as a reminder.

Oh, I forgot to conclude my post. As I am focus on small caps, the uncluttering of AGMs only for big caps is not going to help me. I often have a problem of deciding which physical AGM to attend.
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#4
Hi Mushy,

Thanks for sharing. I do concur that at most times, 1 minute spent talking with a person who is much better than you, is worth 10-20x more in terms of learning/understanding from reading/analyzing.

From Tan Boon Gin's post, I think the intention is to start the declutter, starting from big caps as highest priority since they have "bigger investor base" and hence higher chance of conflicts. You have to start somewhere. So it is not just for big caps but for every cap.
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#5
"E.g. I used to frequent the AGM of a particular smallcap. The founder/chairman will always sit with the shareholders at the table during the break or after the meeting and talk to us. The turnout is usually not big and I always enjoyed just sitting there and listening to him talk. He likes to talk and he is kind of the big brother in his particular industry locally.

Sometimes I get to directly ask the managment specific questions that directly impact my decision to invest. Some years ago, there was a proposed SOA for a local smallcap by a foreign party. The offer price was a good several times the market share price just before the event. Too good to be true. Problem was that the offerer was an unknown foreign party and shareholders were not too confident. The share price tripled but still at a good discount to the offer price up till the end.
At the EGM to vote, I was surprised that the turnout was even lower than the usual AGM of that company. I was not too confident the offerer had the means to pay. So I asked the CFO his opinion on this. Of course the CFO did not give us an official reply. But after the meeting I talked to him and manage to get his response. Just his opinion about the financial health of the offerer. I then had the confident to hold on my shares till the end and get paid the full offer price.


Do you mind sharing the identity of this company? It will be good knowledge for fellow valuebuddies. I do not see anything sensitive in the above writeup that would prejudice yourself or the company.
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