A scaled-down Oakhill board braved the wrath of shareholders yesterday, and it was the very absence of Mr Ray McLoughlin, Mr Alastair McGuckian, Mr Gerry O'Toole and Mr Denis O'Brien that particularly irked the small band of rebel shareholders. "Hamlet without the Prince," was how one shareholder described it to The Irish Times.
But Oakhill chairman Mr Martin Delany was having none of the noisy objections from the small band of rebels. Asked why so many directors were absent, he said: "We have apologies from them. I don't organise their private lives. I've nothing to add to that." He said a quorum of directors was just two.
Needless to say, the response went down like a lead balloon among the irate shareholders, who clearly had relished the prospect of belabouring their bete noire, Mr McLoughlin, the man who had "whelped" Oakhill from James Crean, as rebel shareholder Mr John O'Hanrahan described it.
Others soon joined in the protests. An effort by long-time dissident shareholder Mr Kevin Anderson to have the meeting postponed to give Mr McLoughlin et al the opportunity to present themselves failed, but only after more acrimonious exchanges.
Buoyed by the advice of Oakhill's solicitor, who told the meeting that there was no obligation for all the directors to be present at the annual meeting, Mr Delany said: "I believe this is a validly constituted meeting and I intend proceeding with it. It's my decision. I do not intend postponing this meeting, I'm not protecting anybody." Non-executive director Mr Pearse Casey was one of those who actually turned up for the annual meeting, but that did not protect him from the wrath of shareholders. Why did Mr Casey get #102,000 (£80,000) last year and why did his Adelaide Capital company get a #108,000 consultancy contract from Oakhill, asked a shareholder? "The team around Mr Casey provided us with some very good advice on strategy and the board has been very happy with that advice," said Mr Delany, who added that all had been disclosed in the annual report.
The recent shock departure of chief executive Mr Donnacha Hurley was also a bone of contention, with Mr Anderson demanding to know the terms of the settlement. An increasingly irritated Mr Delany said bluntly that the board was only required to disclose Mr Hurley's settlement in the next annual report and rejected all efforts to reveal the details. "I really don't know why you're harping on about a payment to one director," Mr Delany said to Mr Anderson.
The dissident shareholders, who numbered only a half dozen, eventually registered their protest when the show of hands rejected the re-election of Mr O'Toole and Mr McGuckian as directors. The inevitable poll, however, confirmed their re-election.
