Australia's Treasury Wine chair grilled by shareholders but comfortably re-elected

By Christine Chen SYDNEY (Reuters) -Treasury Wine Estates shareholders grilled Chairman John Mullen over the Australian winemaker's poor performance, stock slump as well as his heavy workload, but he was re-elected by a wide margin at its annual general meeting on Thursday. Earlier this week, Treasury – one of the world's top five winemakers by volume – pulled earnings guidance for 2026 and suspended plans for a share buyback, citing weak sales of its flagship Penfolds wines in China and U.S. distribution challenges. The stock has slumped more than 40% since the start of the year. Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and the Australian Shareholders' Association had recommended that investors vote against Mullen's re-election, noting he also chaired Qantas and logistics firm Brambles and served on other private boards. "Can John point to any other person in recent history who has simultaneously chaired three ASX 100 companies?" one shareholder asked at the meeting. Mullen hit back at the criticism, saying it was ill-timed given the current leadership vacuum at the company, adding that his commitment to the company was "absolute" and he was devoting "adequate" time. Treasury is facing an extremely difficult period with troubles in its key markets and has no current chief executive, he said. Former CEO Tim Ford departed on September 30 and Sam Fischer will not start until October 27. “At a time when the company is going through everything that it's going through that they would think it's in shareholders' interest not to have a chair … that makes me scratch my head,” he said. Shareholders appeared to agree with him and he was re-elected with only 14.55% of votes not in favour. (Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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