Company Watch: FBD fights shy of making dividend payout promises

The insurer’s top executives made sure to tread carefully in fielding shareholder requests at its agm last week

FBD Insurance’s head office in Dublin: the firm has been hit by a wave of business interruption claims. Picture: Fergal Phillips

Shareholders at FBD’s virtual annual general meeting last week had a near-singular focus on just one matter: their returns.

Given the stunted nature of such meetings during the ongoing pandemic, shareholders were invited to submit their questions in advance for senior executives to answer, as they did in a somewhat stilted manner.

Of the four received, all concerned themselves either directly or tangentially with the question of dividends and whether they were likely to be ...