Pod says it won't open up

Pod's bid to win over shareholders with its flash new branding campaign seemed lost on those attending the annual meeting yesterday. Shareholders wanted the numbers.

A tight-lipped chairman, George Gould, battled shareholder frustration that there was no update on the company's position four months from year-end.

Gould said the company, formerly Designer Textiles, did not make forecasts and, to date, nothing had happened that required it to inform the stock exchange of any change in expectations.

Pod comprises clothing companies Michele Ann, Logan Textiles, Designer Textiles International and home-furnishing Mollers Homewares. It adopted the name in September, marking a direction away from its roots in textile manufacturing and towards fashion.

New Zealand Shareholders Association research director and Pod shareholder Oliver Saint asked, not for a forecast, but for an indication of how sales and budgets were tracking for the year.

Gould said: "It has been policy till now not to do this."

To titters among the 20 shareholders present, Saint said: "Get into the real world and start treating your shareholders like human beings."

Another shareholder said he was disappointed, and Gould said he noted those opinions.

Gould faced another battle over the amount the company paid out in dividends.

A shareholder said he would rather see a dividend of 50 per cent than the present 25 per cent. "You're building an empire on the dividends."

Another asked for an indication of the percentage cost of capital. "A lot of bigger companies have given that indication. You should tell us that indication if we have that high percentage of growth going back into the company."

Gould: "I don't want to sound pompous about it, your request is noted, but we're not going to disclose it. Our philosophy is not to reveal hurdle criteria - except that they are high - or our cost of capital."

Saint: "Coming to a shareholders' meeting four months before year-end and being told we're not going to be told anything is, in my mind, rude."