Solid Energy invites entire country to AGM

On Nov 13th the NZ Herald revealed that State Owned Enterprise Solid Energy, the coal mining company at the forefront of environmentalist's climate change campaigns, has decided to invite all of it's shareholders to a public annual meeting - all 4.3 million of us.

It is unheard of for a New Zealand SOE to make their meetings public and some would suggest it is an attempt to gain the moral high ground after heavy criticism from environmental groups, a high rate of work-related accidents recently, and bad publicity last year from hiring private investigators to spy on activists.

The meeting is set for Auckland on Monday November 24th, with invitations being sent to the energy sector and advertisements being posted in newspapers from next week.

The Herald reports "The company's chairman, John Palmer, says in the invitation there had been heightened interest in energy companies this year. "We believe it is appropriate to give all our stakeholders the opportunity to hear more about our business performance, future growth, diversification plans and how we are discharging our corporate social responsibility."

"The company recovered from a disastrous first half to notch up an after-tax profit of $34.4 million for the 2007/08 financial year, well down on last year's record $96.4 million."

The program will include speeches by executive members including CEO Don Elder. They will then take questions.

Solid Energy says it will provide light refreshments following the meeting. As the NZ Herald reports "The spokeswoman said it would have to "take a punt" on the catering".