Pyne Gould has topped off the year with a fiery annual shareholders meeting, where the issue of transparency and accountability were front and centre.
The Guernsey-based investment company had recently been fined and censured by the New Zealand Markets Disciplinary Tribunal over the make-up of its board, and had also had the trading in its shares suspended for failing to file its annual return on time.
Minority shareholders grilled chair, Bryan Mogridge, about the investment company's audited financial report, for the year ended in June.
It was missing audited information about the Torchlight Fund, which accounted for almost half of Pyne Gould's income and more than half of its assets.
And the PWC auditor and partner, at the meeting, did not help matters much.
Not only did he stick to a tightly-worded script in responding to questions about the qualified audit, but he also refused to give his name to journalists- providing it only after the Shareholders Association persisted.
Mr Mogridge said it was a tough meeting, as he had to respond to over an hour of hard questioning and a vote of no confidence by the Shareholders Association.
