Insurance giant Aviva was one of the main players in the shareholder spring, with nearly 60% of investors refusing to vote through the company's remuneration report leading to Andrew Moss's resignation.
Now straight-talking chairman, John McFarlane, is in the hot seat and appears determined to turn the company around, getting shareholders back on board.
This morning he revealed his three-pronged assault on the company's strategy to sell up poor parts of the business and refocus on the good bits. Investors seem impressed and shares were up 6.6p, 2.4%, at 288p.
The business reviewed 58 segments of its operations and revealed that 16 of the worst performing must go, while another 27 are on notice.
Those facing the axe included its South Korean arm, a minority holding in Dutch rival Delta Lloyd and some parts of its UK operations, while its entire Irish business will "require significant improvement," McFarlane said.
The big question left on analysts lips were – will the US operation be included in the big sell-off? The American arm has struggled since the company paid £2bn in 2006.
McFarlane also revealed he hopes to announce a new chief executive early next year, and believes the restructuring should avoid a cut in the dividend (something that would definitely upset shareholders).
Oliver Steel at Deutsche Bank writes:
"It is inevitable in our view that it [the sell-off] must include the US life operation (at £3.8bn of capital). We continue to believe that a US sale is the crucial ingredient of any de-risking."
"The key questions today will thus be how quickly the improved capital position can be achieved, and whether the cost-saving plans are realistic."
Morgan Stanley notes:
"We believe the plan addresses the majority of concerns raised by investors – executing the plan is now the key challenge, especially given the difficult market and uncertain macro conditions."
While over at Berenberg Insurance, they write:
"The key things that we like are; management appears to have listened to shareholders concerns and there is a refreshing honesty about saying that many of your businesses are underperforming and must be fixed with urgent actions to improve or exit. Too often these companies fudge their issues – there appears to be little fudging of the issues here."
