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BP’S new bosses were given a bloody nose yesterday as the oil giant suffered a shareholder revolt and its annual general meeting descended into a farcical row.
Investors rebuked chairman Albert Manifold, who is just six months into the job, by defeating the board in two key votes and staging a significant rebellion against his appointment.
It was the first annual general meeting to be led by Manifold, who took over in October, and chief executive Meg O’Neill, who has been in the role for just three weeks.
Manifold said shareholders had shown ‘overwhelming support for the direction of travel for the company’.
Yet there was an 18 per cent vote against him being given the job. And he suffered defeat on a proposal to hold future annual meetings online, while also losing a vote on a proposal to scrap climate disclosure requirements.
Meanwhile, shareholders voiced anger over BP’s stance on renewable energy and pension arrangements for former employees.
Revolt: In a bruising annual general meeting, some 18% of investors voted against Albert Manifold, pictured, being given the job of chairman
There was even a row about the refreshments at the meeting, with one attendee ejected.
The meeting was a major test for the new leadership at the 117-year-old company, which has come under pressure from US activist investor Elliott to improve performance.
BP has overhauled its top team as it redirects billions in spending to oil and gas after a pivot towards renewable energy. Manifold told the meeting: ‘BP’s performance in recent years has not been where you, or we, want it to be.
‘We need to be a simpler, stronger, more valuable company. In service of that, we have made decisive changes to BP’s strategy and to the leadership.’
O’Neill said: ‘BP is a great company. It can be an even greater one. Now, we need to accelerate the progress we have made so far.’
BP had already run into opposition over its agenda from shareholder advisory firms Glass Lewis and ISS, as well as major investors Legal & General and the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum.
There was backing for Manifold from Norway’s giant sovereign wealth fund, which has a significant stake.
But the board came under fire over a series of issues. It faced a backlash after blocking a vote on a motion from climate campaign group Follow This.
This would have required BP to reveal how it would handle future scenarios of falling oil and gas demand.
Mark van Baal, founder of the group, said: ‘They don’t want to answer a question because it’s outside of their comfort zone of turning hydrocarbons into petrodollars. This board… stands with its hands in its ears.’
And a number of investors also spoke out over online-only annual meetings.
One said that at other companies that had adopted the practice it placed ‘a barrier between the board and its shareholders’, and in many cases questions were ‘not answered in a meaningful way’.
Gavin Palmer, another shareholder, was ejected after demanding the board commit to being ‘honest and straightforward’ and haranguing it over the offer of a ‘packet of biscuits and a weak tea’ for attendees, rather than the lunches of the past. He said: ‘You are insulting the owners of this company.’
Manifold defended the company’s decision to bring forward the defeated motions, saying: ‘It is good governance to bring these types of issues to a meeting like today – to debate and discuss them.’
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