Ryanair: Why is the low cost airline suddenly running scared of publicity?

Need a laugh? Ryanair has banned the media from its AGM “to allow shareholders to discuss all matters freely with the Board without these discussions being distorted for PR purposes”.

That’s a bit like a dive captain banning oxygen so his clients can appreciate the underwater world without it being distorted for breathing purposes.

The bold, brash, low cost, have a seat for a quid as long as you’ve got a Visa Electron card, no more baggage than a spare pair of undies, and are happy to accept a seat by the toilets (ok I'm exaggerating a bit), is one of the world’s most publicity hungry companies.

It’s the Eminem of the skies, embodied by its brash CEO Michael O’Leary: So everyone just follow me! ‘Cause we need a little flight controversy. ’Cause it feels so empty without me.

But this event isn't just unusual by dint of the media ban. Previous AGMs have been held in Dublin, near the airport (naturally). This one is slated for a rural hotel in County Meath. Call me a cynic, but that could be interpreted as an attempt to discourage shareholders too, unless they’re of a mind to combine the event with a family day out to the seaside.

Of course, Ryanair has issues at the moment. It has been been forced on to the defensive by a series of strikes both by pilots in Dublin and staff across Europe. Investor relations have been complicated by criticism of the board expressed by the likes of Glass Lewis, a shareholder voting advisor that has recommended they vote against the re-election of chairman David Bonderman, the US billionaire who has held the role for more than two decades. Memories of last year’s flight cancellation debacle - caused by pilot rostering issues - haven’t faded away yet either.

AGM’s are usually rather dull affairs. Companies like to talk to, and solicit the views of, big investors directly, so they’re typically dominated by small shareholders, often older ones, who turn up for the free lunch as much as anything else.

Irish companies, even public ones, are under no obligation to let either the cameras or the scribblers in (the same is true in Britain). But they usually do so because if they don’t it makes them A, look like they’re scaredy cats and B, like they’ve got something hide. It’s also self defeating. Where there’s a will to get in, there’s usually a way. Reporters can always buy themselves shares, or get people to nominate them as proxies.

There’s nothing like the chance of a rumpus at the City North Hotel & Conference Centre in Gormanstown to motivate the world’s press to find a way in.

And a rumpus there may be. AGM’s can get spicy when big companies have big issues like Ryanair does.

Thing is, this is hardly the first time the airline has faced them. It’s usually grappling with something, and it has typically treated its critics with a raised middle finger and a lot of blarney about how great it is, how cheap its flights are, and how much money it makes because of that, while doing so.

No one likes us, we don’t care!

Except that all of a sudden, it seems Ryanair and O’Leary do care.

Companies only rarely lose AGM votes on their resolutions.

But could this be motivated by those private conversations with big investors giving the company cause to suspect that the opposition to Mr Bonderman is hardening?

The results of the vote may prove telling.