Sack them all: investors vent Suncorp fury

Shareholders at yesterday's annual meeting in Brisbane clapped as a number of speakers called on the chairman, John Story, and the rest of the board to resign, citing anger at the poor financial result.

Suncorp, which owns Australia's fifth-largest bank and the insurers GIO and AAMI, reported $338 million in net profit after tax in 2008-09, down from $583 million the previous year.

Mr Story said Suncorp had been more adversely affected than other banks by the global financial crisis, in addition to extreme weather events such as Victoria's bushfires and Queensland's floods, which triggered a stream of insurance claims.

Suncorp's provision for bad debts rose to $710 million in 2008-09, a tenfold increase on the previous year.

Mr Story told BusinessDay he understood shareholders' concerns.

"We've had a disappointing financial outcome. I fully understand the shareholders are disappointed with the outcome. I feel their pain."

The new chief executive, Patrick Snowball, who took over on September 1, told shareholders he would look for ways to reduce complexity and duplication in the Suncorp group. He also said it would not sell its banking division, which was a key part of the business.

The remuneration report, which included no short-term incentives to executives or increases in salaries or directors fees, was supported by 96 per cent of shareholders.

Shareholders also voted yesterday to change the group's constitution to remove the requirement that 40 per cent of board members live in Queensland, amid strong criticism at the meeting about the size of the 12-member board.

The change requires the approval of the Queensland Parliament.