SUNCORP'S shareholders have appealed for fatter dividends after falling payouts to investors proved the equivalent of "half a potato" in the last year.
Dividends proved a dominant theme among questioning at yesterday's annual general meeting for Brisbane-based Suncorp.
The grilling came amid concern about the risk from widespread flood cover and union complaints about a proposed pay package.
The AGM overall was a tame affair compared to previous years when openly hostile investors jeered the insurance-banking giant's board.
That follows profits lifting at Suncorp to $780million, up from $348million.
Profits had been battered earlier as wild weather caused huge insurance claims, and the credit crunch triggered a funding cost spike and uncovered bad loans.
"Our most recent financial results were encouraging ... Suncorp's recovery is well under way," said Patrick Snowball, who became chief executive in September last year.
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But dividends for the year fell to 35, compared to 40 a year earlier.
One shareholder complained this was the equivalent of half a potato, or four marshmallows.
Another argued that executive salaries had not gone backwards. "We as shareholders are bearing the brunt," the investor said.
Chairman John Story said he could not provide specific guidance about future payouts.
Suncorp "cannot ignore" the impact of the global financial crisis amid "continuing uncertainties within the external environment", he said.
Suncorp's dividend payout target has been reduced to 50-60per cent of cash profits.
"We will drive that up by driving profitability up," Mr Snowball told The Courier-Mail .
"The way we're moving the business means that we are actually achieving long-term stability and profitability."
The Finance Sector Union protested yesterday about wage negotiations they said Suncorp had abruptly cancelled.
Suncorp argued its proposed agreement came after "genuine consideration" of all claims.
Staff will vote this month on the proposal and Mr Story said Suncorp had acted in an "exemplary manner" .
Eugene Clark, an FSU member and vehicle assessor at Ipswich, complained that "entitlements are being eroded".
"Morale in the company is at the lowest it's ever been," said Mr Clark, who has worked for Suncorp for four years.
But Mr Snowball, a former British tank commander turned insurance industry veteran, said morale was improving.
He predicted ongoing global economic instability would remain.
He warned that while Australia had survived better than most developed nations, this did "not mean we can expect a rapid return to the economic growth and buoyancy that preceded the crisis".
Mr Snowball declined to give specific interest rate guidance.
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