I think shareholders should be concerned with the propensity of...

I think shareholders should be concerned with the propensity of the board to raise new (dilutionary) equity at relatively low share valuations. This ability was recently refreshed at the AGM. If they just got on and converted the hybrids they would have a much higher share value (which equals a lower cost of capital) at which to raise any new money. With a lower cost of capital they could actually lower their target Return on Capital for new business and still be more accretive to shareholder returns than curently with the high target ROC and high capital costs situation. At a lower WACC and lower ROC they could probably do a much higher volume of new business too.

They seem to love dragging their heels just out of sheer spite. Maybe they fear being taken over without the poison pill. But the best take over defence is a high share price and the best way to get that is to sort out the capital structure.