BY MOBIN PANDIT
DOHA: Infuriated by declaration of a low dividend, shareholders of state-backed Barwa Real Estate Company, at their meeting here yesterday, lashed out at the board and forced it to raise the payment.
The occasion was the ordinary annual general meeting (AGM) convened to seek shareholders’ formal approval of the company’s financials for 2012. Angry shareholders also struck down a proposal of the board to dole out plush bonuses worth QR2m to its members and slashed the amount drastically to a quarter — QR500,000.
The AGM was stormy from the word go, and as soon as the proposal about dividend disbursal of QR1 per share (10 percent of the face value) for 2012 was tabled, the shareholders began airing their fury.
Amid a heated exchange, the shareholders demanded that the cash dividend amount be doubled to QR2 on the back of the company’s net profits of QR1.17bn — a robust figure but marginally less than the 2011 profits of QR1.41bn. The shareholders called for a vote on their demand, but sensing that they would have their way, Qatari Diar, which holds a majority stake in Barwa Real Estate, used its veto to prevent a headcount.
The tug of war between the shareholders — most of them small investors — and the board of the powerful state-backed listed entity eventually ended in victory for the former as the board was forced to raise the dividend to QR1.5 per share from the original QR1.
A vote couldn’t, however, be prevented on another contentious issue — of what the shareholders said were fat bonuses proposed for the members of Barwa’s board of directors. The shareholders voted in favour of slashing the bonus amount of QR2m by three-fourths to merely QR500,000.
Interestingly, just about a week ago, the Ministry of Business and Trade had announced with much fanfare the launch of an electronic voting system for companies’ AGMs in close collaboration with Barwa Real Estate.
And Barwa became its maiden user. The voters used a handheld device to cast their ballot. The AGM was held at Sharq Village and Spa. The chairman of the board, Hitmi Ali Al Hitmi, later told the meeting that the company had managed to cut administrative costs by 51 percent last year, and 50 percent job nationalisation had been achieved in senior management positions. THE PENINSULA
