by AFIQ AZIZ / pic by ARIF KARTONO

FGV Holdings Bhd’s shareholders have approved the board’s remuneration which had dragged for months and left the chairman and other directors without any compensation.

At the company’s EGM yesterday, the shareholders agreed to six resolutions which substantially reduce the board members’ fees and remove some benefits for the head of the board.

The shareholders accepted the proposed 50% cut to the executive chairman’s remuneration from around RM600,000 to RM300,000 annually.

Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid, who is the current executive chairman, will also lose some benefits including an entitlement to home security personnel, one escort vehicle and two personal bodyguards, which have reduced to just one.

Group CEO Datuk Haris Fadzilah Hassan (picture) said 99.96% of the shareholders approved the resolutions.

“All the six resolutions were passed by the shareholders in attendance, related to the chairman and director fees and benefits, with 99.96% by those present and voting,” Haris Fadzilah told the press after the EGM which was held at the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) corporate tower in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

“The main changes were made to the chairman’s fee, cut by 50% from RM600,000 per annum to RM300,000. For the directors, it remains the same with RM120,000 per annum,” he added.

In June, Felda, which owns a majority 33.6% stake in FGV, Koperasi Permodalan Felda Malaysia Bhd (5%) and the Armed Forces Fund Board (1.25%), shot down the proposed directors’ fees tabled by FGV after a gruelling five-hour AGM.

The AGM saw the company proposing fees payable to the chairman totalling RM1.95 million and a total of RM5.74 million to the board members which were rejected by the key shareholders.

The shareholders were unhappy over the high fees after the company posted RM1.08 billion in losses last year. The major shareholders were also irked by the fact that there was no dividend announcement for 2018.

To resolve the directors’ fee impasses, FGV issued an EGM notice last October.

Other proposed resolutions at yesterday’s EGM included to trim the directors’ fees for FY18 to RM1.1 million, as well as up to RM490,272 for board committee fees. The shareholders also approved a board fee of RM25,000 monthly for the non-executive chairman from Jan 1, 2019, until the next AGM to be held in 2020 and a monthly board fee of RM10,000 to each non-ED for the same period.

The company also proposed the removal of entitlement of leave passage of RM50,000 annually and the entitlement of one mobile phone every three years.

Haris Fadzilah claimed that after Azhar took the position as the chairman in June 2019, the company removed a number of benefits which were enjoyed by his predecessors.

“So this time, they are further cut in terms of the number of bodyguards and the allowance entitlement.

“There is not much difference from what the directors are getting. It is quite lean in that sense, and this is also something that is acceptable for most stakeholders,” Haris Fadzilah said, adding that the proposed benefits would be in line with the practices that had been adopted by other government-linked companies.

Haris Fadzilah said yesterday’s decision was paramount, considering the planter’s wish to continue the turnaround plan, taking advantage of the current scenario of the uptrend in the crude palm oil market.

“The board has been dealing with twin challenges: Poor operational performance that resulted in poor financial performance, and the legacy investments, which some of them are overvalued and underperforming,” he said.

“I want to stress that this board is being tasked with fixing historical problems at FGV. Once we have corrected all historical issues, we will start seeing results of our strategy that the board has put in place,” Haris Fadzilah added.

The company is expected to announce its third-quarter results today. FGV shares settled at RM1.24, seven sen lower at the end of yesterday’s trading.