Small shareholders in Prudential were in dour and aggressive mood at the UK insurer's annual meeting, where the company's board tried to soothe discontent by explaining what lay behind its pursuit of AIA and failure to land the takeover.

Clad mostly in suits - with the odd exception of those donning t-shirts or raincoats, a sign of London's changeable micro-climate no doubt - hundreds of shareholders gathered at Westminster's Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre for this morning's AGM.