Wesfarmers looks forward for more women execs on board, equally upbeat and cautious on outlook
Giant retailer and conglomerate Wesfarmers is seeking for more female inputs on its boardroom activities as the company aims to see more than 50 percent of its directorship eventually occupied by women executives.
This is only logical since the Australian population now counts women as half of its entire composition and according to Wesfarmers chair Bob Every, female executives must be amply represented on company board seats, including the one he heads.
Dr Every made the declaration following the shareholder's election of a second woman to Wesfarmers' board during the company's annual meeting in Perth on Tuesday.
In the same occasion, Dr Every dodged questions on whether Wesfarmers was considering the extension of the vesting term for directors' long term incentives, which currently stands at three years.
Dr Every refused to make any commitment on a push for four year incentives but he gave assurance that Wesfarmers would seriously consider the suggestion.
Unlike its previous shareholders meetings, Wesfarmers got a fairly better reaction on its present remuneration report following the concerns raised on prior reports, which the company said has been addressed accordingly and highlighted by its decision to freeze the base salaries of senior executives, including that of managing director Richard Goyder.
For now, Dr Every assured that salary packages of Wesfarmers' executives would be routinely monitored and assessed.
Overall, Wesfarmers currently stands in a solid financial condition and according to Dr Every, no capital raising is imminent in the near future as he reported that Coles Supermarket is well on its way in the second phase of its five-year recovery plan by so far chalking up additional 1.5 million customer visits each week.
Accordingly, Mr Goyder pointed out that Coles is riding high on a strong sales momentum though he clarified that caution is still observed for possible risks of negative indicators "such as increasing interest rates and general economic uncertainty, which would place additional pressure on household budgets or consumer confidence."