31 January 2019
Connect Group PLC is pleased to announce that at its AGM held at 11.30am today, all resolutions put to the meeting were duly passed. All resolutions were voted on by way of a poll and the results of the poll for each resolution are shown below:
Resolution |
For |
Against |
Withheld |
|||
No. of votes |
% |
No. of votes |
% |
No. of votes |
||
1 |
To receive the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 August 2018 |
146,541,027 |
99.98% |
32,383 |
0.02% |
11,573 |
2 |
To approve the directors' remuneration report for the year ended 31 August 2018 |
144,131,838 |
99.71% |
424,137 |
0.29% |
2,029,008 |
3 |
To elect Jos Opdeweegh |
146,318,818 |
99.84% |
238,175 |
0.16% |
27,990 |
4 |
To elect Michael Holt |
146,319,878 |
99.84% |
232,942 |
0.16% |
32,163 |
5 |
To elect Tony Grace |
146,203,346 |
99.76% |
348,792 |
0.24% |
32,845 |
6 |
To re-elect Gary Kennedy |
113,655,684 |
78.00% |
32,059,126 |
22.00% |
870,172 |
7 |
To re-elect Jonathan Bunting |
146,192,837 |
99.76% |
358,999 |
0.24% |
33,147 |
8 |
To re-elect Denise Collis |
146,304,866 |
99.83% |
250,989 |
0.17% |
29,128 |
9 |
To re-elect Mark Whiteling |
146,223,678 |
99.78% |
322,273 |
0.22% |
39,032 |
10 |
To re-appoint the auditor |
146,074,375 |
99.74% |
383,906 |
0.26% |
126,701 |
11 |
To authorise the Audit Committee to determine the auditor's remuneration |
146,434,951 |
99.91% |
129,415 |
0.09% |
20,617 |
12 |
Authority to make political donations |
139,077,737 |
94.96% |
7,389,083 |
5.04% |
118,163 |
13 |
Authority to allot shares |
121,628,759 |
83.00% |
24,911,086 |
17.00% |
45,138 |
14 |
Authority to partially disapply pre-emption rights* |
121,598,640 |
82.98% |
24,939,952 |
17.02% |
46,391 |
15 |
Authority to disapply pre-emption rights in connection with an acquisition or specified capital investment* |
120,232,709 |
82.25% |
25,954,839 |
17.75% |
397,434 |
16 |
Authority to make market purchases of ordinary shares* |
145,139,807 |
99.03% |
1,419,095 |
0.97% |
26,080 |
17 |
Authority to call general meetings (other than the AGM) on 14 clear days' notice* |
143,165,082 |
97.68% |
3,403,071 |
2.32% |
16,830 |
* Special resolution
The Board acknowledges the number of votes cast by a small number of shareholders against resolution 6 for the re-election of Gary Kennedy, Chairman. The Board has initiated dialogue with certain interested shareholders in order to better understand their voting decision and will continue to engage with shareholders over the course of the year on this matter. The Board will take those views into account, where appropriate, in order to ensure good corporate governance principles are maintained and will, pursuant to the 2018 Corporate Governance Code, report in the Company's 2019 Annual Report what steps have been taken by the Board in order to understand shareholders' views in relation to this resolution and what impact any feedback may have on future decisions to be taken by the Board and actions or resolutions proposed.
1. Where shareholders appointed the Chairman as their proxy with discretion as to voting, their votes were cast in favour of the resolutions and have been included in the "For" total.
2. A "vote withheld" is not a vote in law and is not counted in the calculation of the percentages of the votes cast for and against a resolution.
3. The total number of shares in issue at 6.30pm on 29 January 2019 was 247,659,200. Votes were cast in respect of 59% of the issued share capital.
In accordance with the UK Listing Authority's Listing Rule 9.6.2, a copy of the special business passed at the AGM, being resolutions 12 to 17, has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism at www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM.
Adele Duff
Deputy Company Secretary