Companies cancelling meetings on coronavirus concerns

Amcil is one of the first publicly listed companies to put off a meeting on health concerns.

Amcil is one of the first publicly listed companies to put off a meeting on health concerns, cancelling its shareholders meeting planned for next week. Picture: AAP

The coronavirus outbreak is starting to disrupt shareholder and company meetings, with the $250m listed investment company Amcil one of the first publicly listed companies to put off a meeting on health concerns, cancelling its shareholders meeting planned for next week.

Amcil, which is part of the multi-billion dollar stable of listed investment companies that includes the nation’s biggest LIC, Australian Foundation Investment Co, was to hold a regular shareholders meeting on March 17 in Melbourne at the ZINC venue in Federation square.

Amcil, as well as AFIC and its other stablemate investment companies typically hold annual shareholder meetings outside of the mandated Annual General Meeting which provides a more informal setting to discuss the LIC’s performance and market outlook.

But now Amcil has taken the decision to cancel that meeting, alerting its shareholders this morning the meeting has been cancelled.

“The board is conscious shareholders like to hear from the company as part of its communications program during March, particularly in these volatile market conditions,’’ it said in an ASX statement this morning.

“Given the current health and safety concerns with the coronavirus, it has been decided to cancel the Melbourne Shareholder meeting scheduled for the 17 March 2020 at ZINC at Federation Square.”

Amcil, whose $250m portfolio is mostly made up of small cap and mid cap stocks, said it will still be holding the telephone briefing for investors to discuss the LIC’s performance and equities outlook.

The decision to cancel the Amcil shareholders meeting is one of the first companies on the ASX to take this decision and refrain from public meetings as the coronavirus spreads in Australia.

Mirrabooka, which is another LIC and a stablemate to Amcil, on Wednesday alerted investors that its round of shareholder meetings across the country will also be cancelled with meetings slated for Sydney, Adelaide, March and Perth later this month now cancelled.

Wilson Asset Management, which has $3bn of funds under management and whose portfolio of listed investment companies includes WAM Active, WAM Research and WAM Capital, has cancelled its upcoming major shareholder meeting in May and will instead hold the investor roadshow via a video link.

Wilson Asset Management chief executive Kate Thorley has written to more than 80,000 shareholders who invest across the collection of Wilson funds that the conference for May will now move to online in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and many groups putting the breaks on public meetings and gatherings.

“As a result of the spread of COVID-19, we have made the decision to conduct our May 2020 Shareholder Presentation in video form. The health and wellbeing of our shareholders and our team are our greatest priorities,’’ Ms Thorley said in her letter to investors.

“This decision will ensure that if the situation escalates we will not place our shareholders in potential danger, as our semi-annual Shareholder Presentations now cover eight cities where we meet more than 10,000 people.”