Bottles of Penfolds wines, one of the brands from the Treasury Wines group, are shown at a Sydney boutique wine store, February 15, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Reed

(Corrects spelling of banquets in paragraph 11)

By Christine Chen

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Treasury Wine Estates shareholders grilled Chairman John Mullen over the Australian winemaker's poor performance, stock slump as well as his heavy workload, but he was re-elected by a wide margin at its annual general meeting on Thursday.

Earlier this week, Treasury - one of the world's top five winemakers by volume - pulled earnings guidance for 2026 and suspended plans for a share buyback, citing weak sales of its flagship Penfolds wines in China and U.S. distribution challenges. The stock has slumped more than 40% since the start of the year.

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services and the Australian Shareholders' Association had recommended that investors vote against Mullen's re-election, noting he also chaired Qantas and logistics firm Brambles and served on other private boards.

"Can John point to any other person in recent history who has simultaneously chaired three ASX 100 companies?" one shareholder asked at the meeting.

CRITICISM CALLED ILL-TIMED

Mullen hit back at the criticism, saying it was ill-timed given the current leadership vacuum at the company, adding that his commitment to the company was "absolute" and he was devoting "adequate" time.

He was re-elected with 14.55% of votes not in favour.

Treasury is facing an extremely difficult period with troubles in its key markets and has no current chief executive, Mullen said. Former CEO Tim Ford departed on September 30 and Sam Fischer, who has helmed beer group Lion for the past three years, will not start until October 27.

"At a time when the company is going through everything that it's going through that they would think it's in shareholders' interest not to have a chair ... that makes me scratch my head," he said.

Mullen said he intended to continue until the company was in a better position.

Wine sales in China have been hurt as large-scale banquets have fallen out of favour amid the government's drive to quash excessive spending. The sales will fall well below expectations in 2026 if these trends continue, he said.

"We obviously can't control Chinese consumption. But, I'm confident that it will continue to grow, albeit, perhaps at a slower level than we had first anticipated."

"And in the interim, we will be doing our best to reallocate stock to other markets in the world."

Shareholders also questioned the A$4 million ($2.6 million) sign-on award for incoming CEO Fischer. Mullen said the payment was necessary to compensate Fischer for forgoing incentives with Lion.

Treasury's shares closed 1.8% higher.

($1 = 1.5413 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)