AGM Statement

Caledonia Investments PLC 18 July 2003 CALEDONIA INVESTMENTS PLC AGM Statement At the AGM held at 3:00pm today Peter Buckley, Chairman, made the following comments: 'I would just like to highlight the key features of Caledonia's past financial year. Performance I shall start with performance. Ultimately the company must be judged on this and it is good relative and absolute performance which creates best value for our shareholders. Market conditions over the past three years have been as bad as, if not worse than, any in living memory - but I am pleased to say that Caledonia's record in this context has been outstanding. Over the short, medium and long term which are defined as one, five and ten years, Caledonia's total shareholder return to 30th June, being the date of our last reported net asset value per share, has outperformed that of the FTSE All Share Index by 19, 33 and 79 per cent. Furthermore Caledonia has produced positive returns over all three of those periods. In contrast the FTSE All Share return has been negative over one and five years and only positive over ten years. To put it another way, £100 invested a year ago in Caledonia shares, with the dividend reinvested, would have grown to be worth nearly £110 by the end of June. The same £100 invested in the average FTSE share would have reduced in value to around £90. Over five years, the £100 in Caledonia would have grown to over £115, whereas in the average FTSE share, the £100 would have shrunk to be worth little more than £82. And over ten years with Caledonia, the £100 invested becomes nearly £270, which compares very favourably with £191 for the average FTSE share. We have also been a top quartile performer amongst our peer group, the Association of Investment Trust Global Growth sector, over 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years and for 5 of the 6 periods, a top decile performer. Long term record of dividend increases The annual dividend payable to shareholders has been increased for each of the past 36 years at an annual compound rate of over 9%. We can't fully track the comparable statistics but only a sprinkling of companies can match that record. In saying this I am acutely conscious of the perils of hubris and I would never suggest that we can be certain to maintain this outperformance forever but we have managed it for some time now and we shall always strive to do our best. One feature which underpins our progressive dividend policy is the substantial quantum of our distributable reserves. We have taken particular care on conversion to investment trust status to preserve these reserves for, as you know, investment trusts are prohibited from distributing gains arising from the realisation of investments. On conversion, our distributable reserves amounted to some £460m, or nearly 25 times our present annual dividend distribution, and these should give us the flexibility to maintain our policy of progressive annual dividends. Strengthening of the board I would also like to make mention of the continued strengthening of our board of directors by the recent appointment of David Thompson as an independent non-executive director. David joins Charles Allen-Jones and Mark Davies, who were also appointed in the last 18 months or so, all bringing with them highly relevant skills and backgrounds of very considerable achievement. This is also the first year when Joe Burnett-Stuart is not with us, having retired at the end of last December, after twelve years of very valuable service. I would like to thank him firstly for staying on beyond his originally agreed retirement date of this time last year - which he kindly did to provide continuity following the untimely death of Adrian Evans - but more importantly for the outstanding contribution which he brought to our discussions over his many years of service. It is also just over twelve months since Tim Ingram joined us as chief executive and he has already made a considerable and a very positive contribution to our affairs. Achievement of investment trust status In particular he has led our successful transition to investment trust status which was overwhelmingly endorsed by shareholders at an EGM on 12th February this year. This was an entirely logical move for Caledonia to make and we were able to take advantage of a low point in the market which minimised the cost to shareholders. As part of the process Tim reviewed our strategy and concluded that, although our approach should be refined, we would not alter our methods of operation or style. Indeed it was important to us that these would not be affected by our transition to Investment Trust status - save only to relieve us of the burden of paying capital gains tax, which should in turn lead to better overall returns for shareholders if we can maintain our performance. This, in the jargon therefore, all amounts to a Win - Win situation and was resoundingly endorsed as such at the EGM. Share price discount to net asset value per share Part of our strategy is to broaden Caledonia's appeal as an interesting investment vehicle for retail investors and we have already made progress in this respect. We have begun a programme of presentations to retail fund managers and stockbrokers and are working on introducing an ISA wrapper alongside our existing share savings plan. Over time, these initiatives should help to provide a wider shareholder base and to narrow the discount of the share price to underlying net asset value per share. On this front we are pleased to report that a steady and meaningful reduction in the discount has already taken place. On 30th September last year - the last record date before we announced our conversion to IT status - the discount stood at 33.5%. At our recent financial year end on 31st March, the discount had reduced to 29.8% and at the 30th June, when we last published our net asset value, the discount had fallen further to 22.4%. The recent proposals This brings me to the unfortunate leaks in the press about the proposal from Deutsche Bank on behalf of dissident Cayzer family shareholders to liquidate Caledonia Investments. As you now know, we did receive a formal approach, which we took most seriously but, after taking advice from Rothschild and Cazenove, the board unanimously considered that the proposals were not in the best interest of all shareholders. In view of the leaks, we formally announced this opinion on 7th July and since then nothing has happened to cause us to change our mind. I would only comment that it seems faintly absurd to seek to demolish a successful business which has done so well for its shareholders. I am, however, pleased to tell shareholders that the board of Caledonia has been informed by The Cayzer Trust Company that it is actively seeking a resolution of the dispute which has arisen amongst its own shareholders. To sum up 1. Caledonia has delivered excellent performance over the short, medium and long term against its benchmark. 2. Caledonia will have increased its annual dividends for an unbroken period of 36 years. 3. Caledonia has recently strengthened its board by the appointment of three new independent non-executive directors and a new chief executive. 4. Caledonia has successfully converted to investment trust status. 5. Caledonia's share price discount to its underlying net asset value per share has reduced markedly. Finally the board remains fully committed to its clearly documented business strategy, which was overwhelmingly endorsed by shareholders at the EGM in February, and will seek to continue to implement this for the benefit of all shareholders.' Peter Buckley Chairman 18 July 2003 ENQUIRIES: College Hill Tel: 020 7457 2020 Alex Sandberg Tony Friend Past performance should not be relied on as a guide to future performance. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
UK 100

Latest directors dealings