Our piece on poor shareholder behaviour at Pacific Basin's AGM last week has stirred the memory of Richard Witts who was the secretary and general manager of the Hong Kong stock exchange in the days when Hong Kong luxuriated in four exchanges.
At the Pacific Basin AGM it will be recalled onlookers were flabbergasted when one shareholder walked off with all the coffee capsules prepared for the event before the AGM had started. Witts says he remembers getting a phone call from the company secretary of San Miguel Brewery Hong Kong asking whether it could prohibit shareholders with only an odd lot from attending the AGM.
"Naturally I responded that that would not be possible. A shareholder is a shareholder and entitled to attend general meetings however many shares they have," Witt says. It seems San Miguel was concerned at the growing number of shareholders buying just an odd lot of shares so they could attend the meeting where the company's product was freely available after business was concluded.
Usually with our board lot system, odd lots are not so popular. This was certainly not the case with San Miguel.
"But at least shareholders were disciplined enough to wait for the conclusion of the meeting before the commencement of quaffing," Witts says.