reholders that the targets were too low given they would be measured against last year’s low profit, the board said yesterday it would “exercise discretion” and set the earnings per share growth target above that detailed in its notice of meeting. Kathmandu’s notice of annual meeting released in October effectively said Simonet would en entitled to receive the full performance rights if the company achieved 15 per cent compound average annual earnings growth over the next three years. The company posted a 2015 profit of $20.4 million, down from $42.2 million in 2014, and $44.2 million in 2013. It has forecast 2016 profit of $31.1 million. The company’s shares last traded at $1.56 and have shed 28 per cent so far this year. The shareholders association let it be known that it was concerned that the board had not specified what the new target would be. “How are shareholders supposed to approve a scheme where they have no idea what targets will actually apply?,” association chair John Hawkins said in a statement. Briscoe Group CEO, Rod Duke, whose firm owns almost 20 per cent of Kathmandu, said that it was unlikely Bricoe would vote for the proposal and that he would travel to Christchurch to share his opinions there. “I’ve never ever heard of something quite so arrogant, said Duke. “I’ve never seen a resolution by a board that says ‘Sign is off and I’ll tell you the answer a bit later when I feel like telling you’.” Duke said that under the initial proposal Simonet would still have met his performance targets even if Kathmandu failed to achieve the $31.1 million profit it had forecast for the current financial year. “I would have thought the starting point for the performance target should at least be the forecast they put in the market,” said Duke. The association is also concerned that because of the last minute change, shareholders did not have time to alter their proxy votes.