Remgro: Shares, chicken and wine
Why Johann Rupert is 'sick of the King code'
Distell’s brands will never be combined into Richemont as investors want pure luxury assets, Johann Rupert says
The Remgro AGM last week, chaired by chairman Johann Rupert, was again well worth the cost of the trek out to the Erinvale conference centre in Somerset West. This year Rupert, whose family has controlled Remgro (and its predecessor, Rembrandt) for almost seven decades, offered some refreshingly frank views on corporate governance, share repurchases and capital raising, as well as regrets and reservations about the liquor sector. He also had a downbeat assessment of global free trade. At the start of the meeting, Rupert was asked by a shareholder for his views on recommendations that listed companies regularly rotate audit firms. Rupert said he is "sick of the King code nonsense", arguing that changing audit firms would cause a lot of disruption at companies. "No sooner has an auditor started to understand your business than you have to get rid of him."
Rupert said he prefers to rotate audit partners, which Remgro — audited by PwC — does every five years. "Business is complex ...
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