This is the Personal View Point of Cliff Weight and does not necessarily reflect ShareSoc Policy. Cliff Weight is a director of ShareSoc. Cliff does not own shares in IAG.
A good, well run AGM is a sign of a good company with a good culture. An AGM at an inconvenient time in an inconvenient location is a red flag.
IAG’s 2022 shareholders’ meeting will be held on Thursday 16 June 2022 at 12 noon (CEST). The meeting will take place in Madrid at Edificio Mutua Madrileña, Paseo de la Castellana, nº 33.
IAG is a FTSE100 company. It took over British Airways and has many UK shareholders. The 2022 AGM is contentious. There has been much press about IAG, customer service problems, share price declines and enhanced remuneration for directors and senior executive whilst attempting to cut employee costs.
Best practice is a shareholder meeting to be held before the AGM so that shareholders unable to attend the AGM can hear the arguments and make informed voting decisions. I shall write to the Company asking that they make a statement that they will consider a physical meeting in London in future, with the ability to attend virtually for those who do not live convenient for London.
ShareSoc’s guidance on asking questions at AGMs can be accessed here.
The Mail on Sunday wrote a full page article on the problems at IAG, quoting me:
Director of campaign group ShareSoc, Cliff Weight, said: ‘It’s a lot of money so they should provide a meeting in London – where most of their shareholders can get to more easily – as well as the formal AGM in Madrid.
‘It strikes me that the directors want to hide from their shareholders, who have seen their share price reduce by 75 per cent [since 2020] and are appalled at these egregious remuneration increases.’
The Mail also quoted Minerva CEO Sarah Wilson who questioned IAG’s decision, claiming many firms are ‘tone-deaf’ amid rampant inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.
She said: ‘We’ve got semi riots at Stansted and Heathrow over airlines not being able to organise themselves.
‘What is the rationale – either economic or moral – for raising CEO pay at such a difficult time, especially when the company is loss-making.’
I would hope that Qatar Airways who own over 25% of IAG will bring their influence to bear, but somehow I doubt it. There must be a good case for British Airways to be spun out of the group as it seems to be dominated by management whose priority, unsurprisingly, is Spain.
Remuneration report only got 74.47% support from shareholders who voted for, 17.78% voted against and 7.75% voted abstain.
No recording of the AGM is on the IAG AGM investor webpage, at present.