Airport board wins out at truculent meeting

By CHRIS DANIELS aviation writer

Directors of successful companies with profits increasing year on year, share prices rising and dividends flowing could be forgiven for thinking their annual shareholders meeting would be an easy ride.

But a visit to the annual meeting of Auckland International Airport yesterday would have demonstrated otherwise. For even owners of the best-run companies have gripes.

In the airport's case, they centred on a proposed increase in directors' fees - from $245,000 to $290,000, and a resolution from Greenpeace that it shut down its waste incinerator.

The company got its way on both resolutions - directors' fees increased and the incinerator keeps burning - but was put on notice that it cannot expect to rest on the laurels of its reputation as one of the stock exchange's star performers.

Greenpeace campaigner Sue Connor said that despite losing the incinerator resolution, putting the issue to shareholders had not been a waste of time.

It was the first time in New Zealand that Greenpeace had bought a small parcel of shares in a company then used the rights to push for environmental change.

"It was definitely worthwhile, we got the issue before 59,000 of the company's shareholders through the circulation of our material. Today at the AGM we put the issue fairly and squarely in front of the meeting."

There was a "really decent debate", she said, which allowed those on both sides of the issue, and Mangere residents, to speak out.

Several shareholders challenged the directors' fee increases, saying that even the company's strong performance did not mean 20 per cent increases were deserved.

One shareholder asked whether employees of the airport company would be given a 20 per cent pay rise if they asked for it.

"People are going on strike at the moment to get 3 per cent!" he said.

Chairman Wayne Boyd said that pay rates of airport staff were a management, not board issue and that the board was paid below the median rate for similar companies.

He told shareholders that despite concerns expressed last year about the effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the past 12 months had been successful. Revenue was up 6.2 per cent, exceeding $200 million for the first time, and after-tax profit increased 21 per cent to $71.5 million.

Conditions in the past four months had been very good, said Boyd. International passenger movements were up 4.6 per cent from the year before and domestic movements up 5.3 per cent.

Revenue was up 13.1 per cent and the after tax profit for the past four months was up more than 20 per cent to $25.3 million.

He delivered a harsh rebuke to the Commerce Commission, which said in August that the airfield services supplied by the airport company should come under price control.