General Meetings
- What is the Annual General Meeting?
- If I cannot attend the Annual General Meeting, can I still vote?
Answers
General Meetings:
Q: What is the Annual General Meeting?
A: Public limited companies are required to hold an Annual General Meeting, or AGM of shareholders at which decisions are taken on the company's business. The 'ordinary' business of the AGM is repeated every year and includes accepting the company's accounts for the year and fixing the proportion of a company's profits that will be paid back to shareholders as a dividend. The company directors often take this opportunity to put forward other business requiring the approval of shareholders e.g. renewal of a share plan.
Q: If I cannot attend the Annual General Meeting, can I still vote?
A: If you cannot go to the meeting yourself, you can appoint someone else to go in your place as your 'proxy'. To do this, you must complete the proxy card that is sent to you with the notice of meeting and send it back to us in advance of the meeting.
You can also, if you wish, appoint more than one proxy provided that each proxy is appointed to exercise the rights attached to a different share or shares held by you. If a poll is taken on a resolution, your proxy can cast your vote for you and speak on your behalf.
If you cannot appoint a proxy to attend the meeting in person, you can still send the proxy form back to us and in the event of a poll on any resolution, the Chairman will cast your vote for you in line with the instructions you give on the form. It is also possible to send your proxy instruction over the web. If this service is available, details will be sent to you with the information about the meeting.