good reading - well supported

OUTGOING chairman Graham Bradley took a swipe at the bigger shareholders in Boart Longyear following the defeat at the Adelaide annual meeting of the board's remuneration report.

Noting that yesterday's announcement that he would retire in August this year was "absolutely unrelated" to the proxy defeat of the rem report by 1.42 billion votes to 1.03 billion, a difference of 384 million, he said that "in the six weeks since the annual report was published, not one single major shareholder has contacted the board to discuss the issue".

The report included a rejigged bonus plan, a one-year extension of the Salt Lake City-based company's long-term incentive plan and a reduction in the strike price of some executive options because of the sharp drop in the value of the stock, which had to be recapitalised late last year.

Bradley, who in October last year took over as president of the Business Council of Australia, said he was not critical of governance adviser Riskmetrics, which advised against supporting the rem report.

However, he said, "I'd be disappointed if the major shareholders who voted against it made their decision without consulting the company.

"This relates to no more than a few hundred thousand dollars' worth of compensation decisions, in a payroll of hundreds of millions, made by the board to retain the commitment of some highly talented executives who were expected to work day and night in the worst market conditions we've ever seen, and at a time when the share price had been decimated and the value of any retentions was almost negligible.

"We are happy to defend those decisions," he said, adding that all the executives affected had also volunteered to take a 10 per cent pay cut.

Bradley, who was apopointed chairman in February 2007 before the drilling specialist listed, will hand the top job in August to the more geographically adjacent director Dave McLemore, who lives in Texas.