Robert Wiseman Dairies� veteran non-executive director Ernest Finch suffered a substantial rebellion against his re-election at yesterday�s shareholder meeting.

Robert Wiseman Dairies' veteran non-executive director Ernest Finch suffered a substantial rebellion against his re-election at yesterday's shareholder meeting.

A total of 21% of investors either opposed or withheld their support for the re-election of Finch, who chairs the company's remuneration committee.

The former group executive of retail operations and systems at Marks & Spencer has been on Wiseman's board since 1999. Corporate governance guidelines say a director's independence is compromised if they have served more than nine years.

Wiseman sought to allay these concerns by agreeing that Finch will be re-elected annually despite having been given a three-year term just last year. It maintained that, despite his service, Finch retained his independent status.

The company also overcame more limited opposition to a waiver that will ensure the Wiseman family, which controls 36.3% of the company, is not forced to make an offer for the rest of it under Takeover Panel rules if their stake increases.

Some 16.6% of share- holders either withheld their vote or opposed the resolution.

Wiseman yesterday told the 3337 shareholders who attended its annual meeting in East Kilbride that it had posted an 8.5% rise in volumes for the first quarter of its financial year after benefiting from the collapse of rival Dairy Farmers of Britain.

Chairman Alan Wiseman said this meant it started supplying the Co-operative Group in the north of England ahead of the planned start date of August.

It also began supplying two large Spar wholesalers south of the border last month.

"I can say that we have managed our way through some major changes in the industry in the last few months," he told investors.

He added: "We are in good shape to meet the many challenges that lie ahead as we seek to rebuild margins and profitability."

The industry has been hit by the plummeting price of bulk cream since December 2007. Wiseman and others have cut farm gate prices in response prompting protests by dairy farmers outside the Scottish Parliament earlier this year.

Yesterday, Wiseman said: "Bulk cream returns have recovered over recent months and should help underpin farm gate milk prices for Wiseman Milk Partnership producers over the short-term."

Its shares closed down 5.75p, or 1.5%, at 382p.