My sister convinced me to attend the Axiata AGM. So I attended it, my maiden appearance at the Sime Darby Convention Centre in Bukit Kiara today.
Traffic was heavy as I made my way to the venue. Reaching there, I found a car park and proceeded to the Registration Counters on the first floor. Met my sister and she gave me a tag so that I could pop into the refreshment room for tea and snacks. As usual, "The Mob" was ahead of me and like crows, have devoured a major portion of it. Had what remained- mee-hoon, kiau teow and a piece of martabab and a cup of tea.

AGM started on time. I was impressed with the Board. They spoke immaculate English-very little ahs and oohs. We have the usual shareholders from the floor asking pricky questions but these the Board members put paid to gracefully.

Axiata's future by all reckoning, is bright as it is a growth company. With the recent rights issue, is is cash rich i.e. RM 2.6 billion. Also the subsidiaries will be bringing in the moolah especially Dialogue of Sri Lanka now that the civil war is over. Also, the USD is now favourable to the loans in Indonesia.

Do not expect any dividends for the year but they have promised that once the money is in the kitty, they will pay out 30% as dividends.

Left the hall as it was very cold. Moreover, as the proceedings were just too slow when a minority group threw a apanner in the works by getting board members to be individually re-elected.

Meanwhile 'The Mob" was getting to be dense at the lunch hall. Most of them were old folks waiting for a free lunch. They came after the meeting has started and stuck around outside near the dining area. A Mr Wong told me it is the same type of crowd at all AGMs he has attended. However, he said, it is better at the Sime Darby Convention Centre as the company replenishes the food once the first round has been literary "cleaned-up"

I could not wait for lunch and so left for SS2 to buy some cheap economic rice for Peen and Jon.

To me, the Axiata AGM was nothing great except it taught me more about mobile telephony. Some shareholders crowed at the meeting that it was the best AGM that they have ever attended.

If that is so, then I will use this AGM to benchmark against the other AGMs that I will attend in the future.