Aviva’s chairman said he was “flabbergasted” after female board members suffered a torrent of gender-based abuse at the company’s annual general meeting.
George Culmer slammed “simply inappropriate” comments from shareholders, including an investor who said chief executive Amanda Blanc was “not the man for the job”. He said his speech did not match Aviva’s share price performance over the past decade.
Another individual shareholder, Michael Mason-Mahon, asked if Ms Blanc should “wear pants” as he mentioned some of his predecessors.
Ted O’Toole, also a small investor, expressed his appreciation for gender diversity on the board, as women make up nearly half of the top directors, and said, “They’re so good at the housekeeping business of basis, I’m sure that will be reflected in the direction of the board in the future.
Mr Culmer said: ‘I’m not going to thank everyone for your comments because I think there have been some comments during this session that were just plain inappropriate and I don’t expect and I don’t would not like [not] want to hear at any future AGM. I’m flabbergasted, to be honest.
Ms Blanc, who joined the FTSE 100 group in the summer of 2020 as its first female chief executive, announced plans to return £4.75billion to shareholders on Monday.
Aviva shares have since risen more than 40% since its debut, to a valuation of £15.4bn, although it is still below the £20bn levels of the previous decade.
This was Aviva’s first in-person AGM since the pandemic began, although it was also streamed online.
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Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-05-09 20:17:56