Dissenting shareholders make their feelings known at Greencore board elections

Politicians can only dream of 72 per cent/28 per cent majorities, but, even in an era when the multiple failures of bank boards continue to haunt us, it’s a comparatively low level of support for a director of an Irish plc, where few shareholders dissent when it comes to electing and re-electing non-executives.

That appeared to be the case again at convenience food group Greencore’s annual general meeting this week. The entire board put itself up for re-election and most got as close to 100 per cent support as to make no difference.

Chief executive Patrick Coveney (pictured), won the backing of 96.5 per cent, some 3 percentage points less than most of his colleagues. This could be explained away by the fact that his high-profile role makes him a focus for any unhappy shareholders, however few.

A long-serving non-executive, Google Ireland boss John Herlihy, could only muster the support of 72 per cent of shareholders, almost 28 percentage points less than most of those with whom he sits on the Greencore board.

It was not the end of the world – it meant more than 70 per cent of the company supported his reappointment.

However, given that larger shareholders, those with more than 500,001 shares each, control just short of 85 per cent of Greencore between them, it indicates that dissenters could have included some institutional backers. Greencore is one of a number of high-profile companies that deserted the Irish Stock Exchange for London over the last two years.

It is possible that some international institutions have their own ideas about who should occupy non-exec positions, and are not afraid to express them.

It will be interesting to see if the pattern is repeated with other plcs that have gone the same route.