REG - Woodside Energy Grp. - Further re AGM

Woodside EnergyAnnouncement

16/04/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 7723K  Woodside Energy Group Ltd  16 April 2024

Woodside Energy Group Ltd

ACN 004 898 962

Mia Yellagonga

11 Mount Street

Perth WA 6000

Australia

T +61 8 9348 4000

www.woodside.com

 

ASX: WDS

NYSE: WDS

LSE: WDS

 

Announcement

 

Tuesday, 16 April 2024

 

 

CHAIR'S LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS

 

Attached is a letter to shareholders from Woodside Chair, Mr Richard Goyder
AO.

 

 

 Contacts:

 INVESTORS                  MEDIA

 Marcela Louzada            Christine Forster

 M: +61 456 994 243         M: +61 484 112 469

 E: investor@woodside.com   E: christine.forster@woodside.com

 

This announcement was approved and authorised for release by Woodside's
Disclosure Committee.

 

Tuesday, 16 April 2024

 

Chair's letter to shareholders

 

 

Dear Woodside Shareholder,

 

On behalf of the Woodside Board, I am writing to encourage your active
participation in our 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 24 April. You can do
this by attending online or in person at Crown Perth, by submitting a question
to me as Chair, and most importantly by casting your votes on the items being
put to shareholders.

 

Your participation, and our ability to engage with you through the AGM, is
important to me and to my fellow directors.

 

I would like to share my reflections on this transformative period in
Woodside's 70-year history and my confidence in the company's long-term
future. I joined Woodside's Board in 2017 and became Chair of this great
Australian company in 2018, a position I am extremely proud to hold. Over that
time, we have reshaped Woodside to become the largest energy company in
Australia, with a significant global footprint and strong foundation for
future growth.

 

In 2022, our shareholders overwhelmingly approved Woodside's merger with BHP's
petroleum business by a positive vote of 98.66%.

 

A year earlier in 2021, the Board formally appointed Meg O'Neill as Chief
Executive Officer and Managing Director, and I am proud of the exceptional
leadership, vision and energy she has demonstrated in this role.

 

Over the past few years we have been reshaping Woodside's Board, with the
appointment of three new Directors who broaden the skills and experience of
our Board and bring international expertise.

 

This significant refresh of our company's portfolio and leadership has enabled
us to achieve strong operational and financial performance, while laying the
foundations for future growth and value. This includes taking final investment
decisions on Scarborough in 2021 and Trion last year, as well as achieving the
sell downs on the Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 projects.

 

In the two years since the merger, Woodside has returned a total of 393 US
cents per share, fully franked, in dividends. This amounts to US$7.5 billion
(equivalent to A$11.2 billion) distributed to our shareholders, representing
an average dividend yield of 9%. Woodside's disciplined capital management
framework supports the company to navigate through the investment and
commodity price cycles. We remain focused on creating value for shareholders
and our major projects are well placed to do this as they support future
demand from customers.

 

At the same time as delivering these strong results for our shareholders, the
Board and I are absolutely focused on Woodside's long-term future and our
strategy to thrive through the energy transition.

 

We believe that climate change is an urgent global challenge, and that the
energy sector has an important role to play in the transition to a net zero
world. We acknowledge the previous concerns of shareholders, as reflected in
the voting results at the 2022 and 2023 AGMs. Your votes sent a strong message
that we had to improve our climate transition plans and disclosures.

 

Since then, we have stepped up our engagements to better understand investor
expectations on our governance and climate transition strategy. In the last 12
months, we have had hundreds of meetings with shareholders and proxy advisors,
and I have personally led over 80 of those engagements. Based on your
feedback, we have prepared our Climate Transition Action Plan (CTAP) and you
can find a summary of investor feedback and where it has been addressed on
page 9 of the CTAP. We have also added a comprehensive overview on our website
at www.woodside.com/investors. We believe this demonstrates our commitment to
engaging, listening and responding to investor feedback. You may have seen in
the media that some proxy advisers have sought to reject the CTAP based on a
perceived lack of shareholder engagement. We disagree with this assessment.

 

In response to investor feedback, Woodside committed to put its climate
disclosures to a vote of shareholders at this year's AGM. Such a vote is not
required by law or a feature of common market practice but is something that
our investors specifically asked for and we have met this commitment.

 

We are being honest about the energy transition. It is the Board's view that
the CTAP effectively articulates the challenges and demonstrates Woodside's
plans and progress towards mitigating the risks of climate change. We believe
the approach Woodside is taking is Paris-aligned as we are making progress on
our Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction plans, and we assess both our current
portfolio and our future investment options for their resilience to the energy
transition. Our CTAP presents a well-considered and realistic pathway that
deserves the firm support of our shareholders at our 2024 AGM.

 

The Board is responsible for protecting shareholder value and to effectively
mitigate the long-term risks of climate change to Woodside's business model.
We are concerned that some stakeholders' and investors' requests to
drastically change Woodside's strategy and investment priorities risk eroding
value for all shareholders and contributing to a disorderly energy transition.
The energy transition will take time and significant investment, and I am
confident that Woodside's disciplined approach is the right path for our
shareholders.

 

Regardless of the outcome of the advisory vote on our CTAP, Woodside will
continue to seek investor feedback and continually evolve our climate change
strategy with the goal of enabling Woodside to thrive through the energy
transition. Our vision for Woodside is: in 2050 we will be a successful energy
company, having responded and evolved to customers' and society's needs in the
energy transition. We will achieve it in a competitive and commercial way that
creates value for our shareholders.

 

Our Board will also evolve. We will continuously seek the right expertise and
skills to provide leadership and oversight, and support Woodside's global
operations and strategic growth opportunities through the energy transition.

 

In conclusion, I have never been more energised and excited at the prospect of
serving as Chair of Woodside. You have my assurance that I will continue, and
wherever possible expand, my engagement with Woodside's shareholders to ensure
we continue to meet your expectations as a successful and responsible energy
company.

 

Thank you for investing and placing your trust in Woodside.

 

Yours faithfully

Richard Goyder AO

Chair of the Board

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