Pre-Annual General Meeting Information • Apr 7, 2020
Pre-Annual General Meeting Information
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THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in any doubt as to the action you should take, you should immediately consult your stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other independent professional adviser duly authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
If you have sold or otherwise transferred all of your shares in Greggs plc, please send this document, together with the accompanying documents, as soon as possible to the purchaser or transferee or to the stockbroker, bank or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was effected for delivery to the purchaser or transferee.

(Registered in England and Wales with registered number 502851)
Registered office: Greggs plc Greggs House Quorum Business Park Benton Road Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 8BU
7 April 2020
Dear Shareholder
I enclose a formal notice of our Annual General Meeting, which is to be held at Greggs House, Q9, Quorum Business Park Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 8BU on Wednesday 13 May 2020 at 11:30 a.m.
As at the date of this Notice, we have taken the decision to proceed with the Annual General Meeting. However, the safety of our shareholders, colleagues and customers is of the utmost importance to us during these difficult times, and so we want to strongly encourage you to use your proxy vote this year, rather than attending in person. This is so particularly if you are self-isolating, for whatever reason, or are a person who is more susceptible than others to Covid 19.
We will not be holding our "normal" meeting, and we will not be providing any refreshments. The objective will be to table the resolutions before the meeting and then close it down as quickly as possible. We anticipate that it will last no more than around 10 minutes.
We urge our private shareholders to exercise your votes by proxy, at www.greggsshares.co.uk. Please refer to note 8 on page 5 of this Notice for more information.
We hope that you understand our decision in the circumstances, and we will consider holding a shareholder event in the North East later in the year.
Should any arrangements for the AGM change, we will make an announcement via the Regulatory News Service. Please register to receive updates at https://corporate.greggs.co.uk/investors/regulatory-news/email-signup.
As is now established practice, all resolutions will be determined by poll vote, rather than on a show of hands. This is in accordance with best practice, and will result in a more accurate reflection of the views of shareholders by ensuring that every vote is recognised, including those of shareholders who are unable to attend the meeting but who appoint a proxy. On a poll, every shareholder has one vote for every share held.
In accordance with the UK Corporate Governance Code, all of the Directors apart from Kate Ferry will, in turn, resign as a Director and offer themselves for re-election. Kate joined the board following the 2019 AGM, and now offers herself for election by shareholders.
I am pleased to confirm that, following evaluation and recommendation from the Nominations Committee, we are satisfied that each of the Directors seeking election or re-election at the meeting makes a valuable contribution to our discussions, has the best interests of the Company at heart, continues to perform effectively and demonstrates commitment to the role, including commitment of time for Board and Committee meetings and any other required duties.
A proxy form is enclosed for you to complete (according to the instructions printed on it) and send to the Company's Registrars, Link Asset Services, PXS, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 4TU to be received by 11.30 a.m. on Monday 11 May 2020. Completion and submission of the proxy form will not prevent you from attending and voting at the meeting if you subsequently find that you are able to do so. CREST Members can cast their votes using CREST electronic proxy voting (further details of which are set out in note 9 on page 5 of this document).
Your Directors believe that all the resolutions in the enclosed notice of Annual General Meeting are in the best interests of the Company and are most likely to promote the success of the Company for the benefit of its shareholders as a whole. Accordingly, they unanimously recommend that you vote in favour of each resolution, as they intend to do in respect of their own shareholdings in the Company.
Yours faithfully
Ian Durant Chairman
Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of Greggs plc ("the Company") will be held at Greggs House, Q9, Quorum Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 8BU on Wednesday 13 May 2020 at 11:30 a.m. for the following purposes:
To transact any other ordinary business of the Company.
As special business, to consider and, if thought fit, pass the following resolutions, which will be proposed as to resolutions 13 and 14 as Ordinary Resolutions and as to resolutions 15, 16 and 17 as Special Resolutions:
This resolution revokes and replaces all unexercised authorities previously granted to the Directors in accordance with section 80 of the Companies Act 1985 or section 551 of the 2006 Act to allot shares or grant Rights but without prejudice to any allotment of shares or grant of Rights already made, offered or agreed to be made pursuant to such authorities.
but subject to such exclusions or other arrangements as the Directors may deem necessary or expedient in relation to treasury shares, fractional entitlements, record dates, legal or practical problems in or under the laws of any territory or the requirements of any regulatory body or stock exchange; and
The power granted by this resolution will expire on 12 August 2021 or, if earlier, the conclusion of the Company's next Annual General Meeting (unless renewed, varied or revoked by the Company prior to or on such date) save that the Company may, before such expiry make offers or agreements which would or might require equity securities to be allotted after such expiry and the Directors may allot equity securities in pursuance of any such offer or agreement notwithstanding that the power conferred by this resolution has expired.
This resolution revokes and replaces all unexercised powers previously granted to the Directors to allot equity securities as if either section 89(1) of the Companies Act 1985 or section 561(1) of the 2006 Act did not apply but without prejudice to any allotment of equity securities already made or agreed to be made pursuant to such authorities.
Dated: 7 April 2020
Registered Office: Greggs plc Greggs House Quorum Business Park Benton Road Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 8BU
By Order of the Board
Jonathan D Jowett Company Secretary
In the case of a member which is a Company, the proxy form must be executed under its Common seal or signed on its behalf by an officer of the Company or an attorney for the Company.
Any power of attorney or any other authority under which the proxy form is signed (or a duly certified copy of such power or authority) must be included with the proxy form.
In order for a proxy appointment made by means of CREST to be valid, the appropriate CREST message (a CREST Proxy Instruction) must be properly authenticated in accordance with Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited's ("EUI") specifications and must contain the information required for such instructions, as described in the CREST Manual. The message must be transmitted so as to be received by the issuer's agent (ID RAI0) by the latest time for receipt of proxy appointments specified in note 8 above. For this purpose, the time of receipt will be taken to be the time (as determined by the timestamp applied to the message by the CREST Applications Host) from which the issuer's agent is able to retrieve the message by enquiry to CREST in the manner prescribed by CREST.
CREST members and, where applicable, their CREST sponsors or voting service providers should note that EUI does not make available special procedures in CREST for any particular messages. Normal system timings and limitations will therefore apply in relation to the input of CREST Proxy Instructions. It is the responsibility of the CREST member concerned to take (or, if the CREST member is a CREST personal member or sponsored member or has appointed a voting service provider(s), to procure that his CREST sponsor or voting service provider(s) take(s)) such action as shall be necessary to ensure that a message is transmitted by means of the CREST system by any particular time. In this connection, CREST members and, where applicable, their CREST sponsors or voting service providers are referred, in particular, to those sections of the CREST Manual concerning practical limitations of the CREST system and timings.
The Company may treat as invalid a CREST Proxy Instruction in the circumstances set out in Regulation 35(5)(a) of the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001.
The website referred to in note 12 includes information on the number of shares and voting rights.
Where the Company is required to publish such a statement on its website:
For information on voting rights, including the total number of voting rights, see note 14 above and the website referred to in note 12.
If you either do not have such a right or if you have such a right but do not wish to exercise it, you may have a right under an agreement between you and the Relevant Member to give instructions to the Relevant Member as to the exercise of voting rights.
Your main point of contact in terms of your investment in the Company remains the Relevant Member (or, perhaps, your custodian or broker) and you should continue to contact them (and not the Company) regarding any changes or queries relating to your personal details and your interest in the Company (including any administrative matters). The only exception to this is where the Company expressly requests a response from you.
Please contact the Company Secretary using the details in note 22 if you wish to arrange to review the display documents.
You may not use any electronic address provided either:
Section 439 of the Companies Act 2006 requires quoted companies, at each general meeting at which statutory accounts are to be laid, to propose an ordinary resolution approving the Directors' Remuneration report for the year. Resolution 11 will be proposed as an ordinary resolution for this purpose.
Section 439 of the Companies Act 2006 also requires that the Directors' Remuneration Policy is put to a binding shareholder vote at least once every three years, with this requirement falling due at the 2020 Annual General Meeting. The Directors' Remuneration Policy is set out on pages 61 to 70 of the Annual Report and Accounts as made available to shareholders at the same time as this circular and is available on the Company's website at http://corporate.greggs.co.uk.
Resolution 13 will be proposed as an Ordinary Resolution to approve an amendment to the Greggs plc Performance Share Plan (the Plan) to increase the individual limit to align the Plan with the proposed new Directors' Remuneration Policy. The amendment is to increase the individual limits to the value of grants in any financial year from 115% of salary (150% of salary in exceptional circumstances) to 150% of salary for the Chief Executive and 125% of salary for other eligible employees (with an exceptional circumstances limit for other eligible employees of 150% of salary).
The Companies Act 2006 provides that Directors shall only allot unissued shares with the authority of shareholders in general meeting. Resolution 14 will be proposed as an Ordinary Resolution for the renewal of the Directors' general authority to allot shares up to an aggregate nominal amount of £674,000, representing approximately one third of the current issued share capital of the Company. The Directors have no present intention of exercising this authority and the authority will, unless renewed, varied or revoked by the Company, expire on 12 August 2021, or, if earlier the date of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company.
The Companies Act 2006 also provides that any allotment of new shares for cash must be made pro rata to individual shareholders' holdings, unless such provisions are disapplied under section 570 of the Companies Act 2006. Resolution 15 will be proposed as a Special Resolution for the renewal of the Directors' authority to allot equity securities for cash, without first offering them to shareholders pro rata to their holdings. This authority facilitates issues made by way of rights to shareholders which are not strictly in accordance with section 561(1) of the Companies Act 2006, and authorises other allotments of up to a maximum aggregate nominal amount of £101,000, representing approximately 5 per cent of the current issued share capital of the Company. This authority also allows the Directors, within the same aggregate limit, to sell for cash shares that may be held by the Company in treasury (the Company does not currently hold any such shares). The Directors have no present intention of exercising this authority and In line with best practice, the Company has not issued more than 7.5% of its issued share capital for cash on a non-pro rata basis over the last three years.
Resolution 16 will be proposed as a Special Resolution for the renewal of the Company's authority to purchase its own shares in the market up to an aggregate nominal amount of £202,000, representing approximately 10 per cent of the issued share capital of the Company. The price payable shall not be more than 5 per cent above the average price of the middle market quotation as derived from the Daily Official List of London Stock Exchange plc for the Ordinary Shares for the five business days before the purchase is made and in any event not less than the nominal value of each Ordinary Share. It is the Directors' intention only to exercise the authority to purchase the Company's shares where it would increase the earnings per share of those Ordinary Shares that are not re-purchased. The Company intends either to cancel such shares or to hold them in treasury. This power will only be used if the Directors consider that to do so would be in the best interests of shareholders generally. The total number of warrants and options to subscribe for equity shares that are currently outstanding is 2,333,065, which represents approximately 2.3% of the current issued share capital of the Company. If the full authority to buyback shares (i.e. the existing authority and that being sought under Resolution 167 is used this would represent approximately 2.6% of the current issued share capital of the Company.
Resolution 17 will be proposed as a Special Resolution to allow the Company to continue to hold general meetings on 14 clear days' notice. The Company is currently able to call general meetings other than Annual General Meetings on 14 clear days' notice in accordance with its Articles of Association. However, the Companies (Shareholders' Rights) Regulations 2009 (the "Regulations"), which came into force on 3 August 2009, increased the required notice period for all general meetings to 21 days, which overrides the authority provided for in the Articles of Association. The Company is able to reserve the authority to call general meetings (other than the Annual General Meeting) on 14 clear days' notice, provided shareholders have approved this by passing a resolution annually at each Annual General Meeting and the Company has met the requirements for electronic voting under the Regulations. The Company does not intend to call general meetings on 14 clear days' notice as a matter of routine but would like to retain the flexibility to do so where the Directors believe that it is in the best interests of the Company, for example, where the Directors believe there is a financial or operational advantage which outweighs the benefit to shareholders of a longer notice period.
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