AGM Information • Dec 6, 2023
AGM Information
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THIS DOCUMENT AND THE ENCLOSED FORM OF PROXY ARE IMPORTANT AND REQUIRE YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in any doubt as to any aspect of the proposals referred to in this document or as to the action you should take, you should immediately seek your own advice from a stockbroker, solicitor, accountant or other professional who is duly authorised and regulated under the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended) ("FSMA") if you are in the United Kingdom or, from another appropriately authorised independent financial adviser if you are in a territory outside the United Kingdom.
If you have sold or otherwise transferred all of your Ordinary Shares please pass this document (but not the personalised Form of Proxy) to the purchaser or transferee, or to the person who arranged the sale or transfer so they can pass these documents to the person who now holds the Ordinary Shares. However, this document should not be forwarded to or sent into the United States, Canada, Australia, the Republic of South Africa or Japan. Any person (including, without limitation, custodians, nominees and trustees) who may have a contractual or legal obligation or may otherwise intend to forward this document to any jurisdiction outside the UK should seek appropriate advice before taking any action.
This document is not an offer of securities, or the solicitation of an offer to acquire securities, in any jurisdiction nor does it constitute a prospectus or equivalent document. This document is provided solely for the information of shareholders in connection with the Annual General Meeting and not for any other purpose.

(Incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 13594181 and registered as an investment company under section 833 of the Companies Act)
This document should be read in conjunction with the personalised Form of Proxy accompanying this document and the Notice of Annual General Meeting set out at the end of this document. Your attention is drawn to the letter from the Chair of the Company set out on pages 3 to 5 of this document containing a recommendation from the Board that you should vote in favour of the Resolutions to be proposed at the Annual General Meeting.
Notice of the Annual General Meeting to be held at the offices of Foresight Group, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG at 1.00 p.m. on 21 February 2024 is set out on pages 9 to 12 of this document. A personalised Form of Proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting is enclosed with this document. You are requested to complete the Form of Proxy and return it to the Company's registrar, Computershare Investor Services PLC at The Pavilions, Bridgwater Road, Bristol BS99 6ZY so as to arrive not later than 1.00 p.m. on 19 February 2024. Alternatively, you may submit your Form of Proxy electronically, further details are given in the 'Notes' to the Notice of Annual General Meeting. To be valid your Form of Proxy instruction must be received by 1.00 p.m. on 19 February 2024.
EXPECTED TIMETABLE DEFINITIONS PART 1 — LETTER FROM THE CHAIR PART 2 — PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE EXISTING INVESTMENT POLICY PART 3 — NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETING
Date of this document ...................................................................6 December 2023 Latest time and date for receipt of Forms of Proxy .......1.00 p.m. on 19 February 2024
Annual General Meeting...............................................................1.00 p.m. on 21 February 2024
The times and dates set out in the expected timetable above and mentioned throughout this document may, in certain circumstances, be adjusted by the Company, in which event details of the new times and dates will be notified by means of an announcement through a Regulatory Information Service.
References to time in this document are to London time (GMT).
| Amended Investment Policy | the amended investment policy of the Company proposed to be adopted pursuant to Resolution 10 as set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting |
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| Annual General Meeting | the annual general meeting of the Company convened pursuant to the Notice of Annual General Meeting set out at Part 3 of this document for 1.00 p.m. on 21 February 2024 or any adjournment or postponement thereof |
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| Board | the board of Directors of the Company | |
| Carbon Credit | a generic term for any tradeable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas |
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| Company | Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company Plc | |
| CREST | the relevant systems for the paperless settlement of trades in securities and the holding of uncertificated securities operated by Euroclear UK & International Limited in accordance with the CREST Regulations |
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| CREST Proxy Instruction | the appropriate CREST message, the completion and transmission of which allows holders of shares in uncertificated form (that is, in CREST) to appoint a proxy |
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| CREST Regulations | the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001 (SI 2001 No. 3755), including (i) any enactment or subordinate legislation which amends or supersedes those regulations and (ii) any applicable rules made under those regulations for the time being in force |
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| Directors | the directors of the Company, whose names are set out on page [•] of this document |
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| Existing Investment Policy | the Company's investment policy as at the date of this document | |
| FCA | the Financial Conduct Authority | |
| Form of Proxy or Proxy Form | the personalised form of proxy for use by shareholders in connection with the General Meeting |
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| FSMA | the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as may be amended from time‑to-time |
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| London Stock Exchange | London Stock Exchange plc | |
| Notice of Annual General Meeting | the notice of Annual General Meeting, set out at Part 3 of this document | |
| Ordinary Shares | ordinary shares of £0.01 each in the capital of the Company | |
| Proposal | has the meaning given to it in Part 1 of this document | |
| Resolutions | the resolutions set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting | |
| shareholder or member | a holder of Ordinary Shares | |
| UK or United Kingdom | the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
(Incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 13594181 and registered as an investment company under section 833 of the Companies Act)
| Richard Davidson (Non-Executive Chairperson) | |
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| Josephine Bush (Non-Executive Director) | |
| Sarika Patel (Non-Executive Director) | |
| Christopher Sutton (Non-Executive Director) |
6 December 2023
Dear Shareholder
I am writing to provide you with details of the Annual General Meeting which will be held at the offices of Foresight Group, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG at 1.00 p.m. on 21 February 2024.
Details of the Proposal and the Resolutions which will be put to shareholders at the Annual General Meeting are set out below.
Notice of the Annual General Meeting is set out in Part 3 of this document and a personalised Form of Proxy is enclosed with this document.
Resolution 10 to be proposed at the Annual General Meeting proposes the adoption of certain amendments to the Company's published investment policy.
The Company's current investment policy categorises the Company's Forestry Assets into two types being:
"Standing forests" which are land assets where stands of trees have a canopy cover of at least 20% of the land; or
"Afforestation assets" which are land assets which have the potential to become Standing Forests through new planting initiatives.
The Company's current investment policy also contains an investment restriction that the maximum exposure to Afforestation projects will not exceed in aggregate 50% of the Company's Gross Asset Value (the "Afforestation Investment Restriction").
This investment restriction in relation to Afforestation assets was originally intended to reflect the potentially enhanced risk profile of Afforestation assets which may require planning to be obtained for new forest development and/or planting of saplings to be undertaken.
However, the current definition of Afforestation assets also encompasses Afforestation assets where planting has been completed (after planning approval) and where the trees are in a 3-5 year period of establishment. The Board and the Investment Manager believe that these "Establishment Stage" afforestation assets have, by this stage of their development, been significantly de-risked and should not fall within the scope of the Afforestation Investment Restriction as they currently restrict the ongoing proportion of the Company's Gross Asset Value which can be committed to new Afforestation assets. As set out in the Annual Report for the year ended 30 September 2023, since its launch the Company has now successfully completed six Afforestation planting schemes which have generated a gross unrealised IRR of 93% as at 30 September 2023 based on their carrying value of £[•] million.
The Company is therefore proposing to amend the investment policy to provide additional granularity to its existing definitions by introducing the following new sub-categories of projects, namely:
The Company is also proposing to amend the Afforestation Investment Restriction to reflect these new definitions as follows:
"the maximum aggregate exposure to Development Stage Afforestation Assets and Planting Stage Afforestation Assets will not exceed, in aggregate, 50% of Gross Asset Value;"
The Board and the Investment Manager believe that the proposed breakdown of the Company's Afforestation assets into these sub-categories and the amendment of the Afforestation Investment Restriction better reflects the practical risk profile of the Company's Afforestation assets and removes a potential brake on the Company's ability to prudently expand on its higher returning "development stage" Afforestation assets.
Part 2 of this document sets out the proposed amended investment policy (the "Amended Investment Policy") to implement the changes summarised above. The proposed adoption of the Amended Investment Policy shall be referred to as the Proposal.
Resolution 10, which will be proposed as an ordinary resolution, will, if passed, allow the Company to adopt the Amended Investment Policy.
In the event that the Amended Investment Policy is not approved by shareholders, the Company's current investment policy will remain unchanged.
A notice convening the Annual General Meeting to be held at the offices of Foresight Group, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG, at 1.00 p.m. on 21 February 2024 is set out at the end of this document. At the Annual General Meeting, the following Resolutions will be proposed:
Resolution 1, which will be proposed as an ordinary resolution, will, if passed, approve the Annual Report and Accounts of the Company for the year ended 30 September 2023.
Resolution 2, which will be proposed as an ordinary resolution, will, if passed, approve the Directors' Remuneration Report for the year ended 30 September 2023.
Resolutions 3-6, which will be proposed as ordinary resolutions, will, if passed, re-elect the Directors of the Company.
Resolution 7, which will be proposed as an ordinary resolution, will, if passed, re-elect Ernst & Young LLP as external auditor to the Company.
Resolution 8, which will be proposed as an ordinary resolution, will, if passed, authorise the Directors to fix the auditor's remuneration until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company.
Resolution 9, which will be proposed as an ordinary resolution, will, if passed, authorise the Directors to allot shares in the Company. In accordance with the requirements of the Listing Rules, all shares issued under this authority would be issued at a premium to the prevailing NAV per share.
Resolution 10, which will be proposed as an ordinary resolution, will, if passed, allow the Company to adopt the Amended Investment Policy.
Resolution 11, which will be proposed as a special resolution, will, if passed, authorise the Directors to allot equity securities in the Company. All shares issued under this authority would be at a premium to the prevailing NAV per share.
Resolution 12, which will be proposed as a special resolution, will, if passed, authorise the Company to make market purchases of its own shares. As a result of the size of the shareholding in the Company by Blackmead Infrastructure Limited, any exercise of the buyback authority would be conditional upon the approval of the UK Takeover Panel for a "whitewash" resolution to be put to independent shareholders of the Company at a further General Meeting of the Company, and independent shareholder approval of such resolution.
Resolution 13, which will be proposed as a special resolution, will, if passed, permit general meetings to be called on 14 days' notice.
A personalised Form of Proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting is enclosed with this document. You are requested to complete the Form of Proxy and return it to the Company's registrar, Computershare Investor Services PLC at The Pavilions, Bridgwater Road, Bristol BS99 6ZY so as to arrive not later than 1.00 p.m. on 19 February 2024. Alternatively, you may submit your Form of Proxy electronically, further details are given in the 'Notes' to the Notice of General Meeting. To be valid your Form of Proxy instruction must be received by 1.00 p.m. on 19 February 2024.
The Directors consider the Resolutions to be proposed at the Annual General Meeting to be in the best interests of the Company and the shareholders as a whole. Consequently, the Directors unanimously recommend that you vote in favour of the Resolutions, as they intend to do in respect of their own beneficial interests amounting, in aggregate, to 168,000 Ordinary Shares representing 0.10% of the Company's equity capital.
Yours faithfully
Richard Davidson Chairperson
The proposed amendments contained in the Amended Investment Policy, marked to show the changes from the Existing Investing Policy, are set out below. Additions are indicated with underline and deletions have been crossed through.
The Company intends to achieve its investment objective by predominantly investing in a diversified portfolio of sustainable Forestry Assets, predominantly located in the UK.
"Forestry Assets" are land assets falling within one of the following categories:
Established Forest Assets – land assets where established stands of trees have a canopy cover of at least 20% of land area.
These Forestry Assets may be used for planting, maintaining and growing trees for commercial production of timber or other forest products ("Commercial Forestry") or for non-commercial purposes ("Non-Commercial Forestry") and in both cases may include areas where a community of naturally occurring tree species regenerate by natural (i.e. without intervention) means ("native woodland") and areas that are left unplanted with trees ("open ground").
The Group will seek to acquire a mixture of cash flow generating sustainable Forestry Assets representing a mixture of Established Forest Assets (of varying age classes) together with land suitable for Afforestation Projects (representing both Commercial Forestry projects and Non-Commercial Forestry projects) to achieve a balanced portfolio with an optimal harvesting and capital growth profile.
Diversification within the Group's portfolio will be achieved by:
Although the Group's revenues will primarily be generated by the sale of harvested timber and, in due course, the sale of Carbon Credits, where appropriate and practicable, the Group will also seek to generate ancillary non-core revenue streams from its Forestry Assets, including, but not limited to, the leasing or licensing of land to third parties for agricultural, sporting and tourism activities, the leasing of land to third parties for renewable energy and/or energy storage and/or telecommunications development projects (such as the erection of wind turbines or mobile telecommunications towers) and, if a future market develops, the sale of biodiversity credits.
The Company will gain exposure to Forestry Assets indirectly through its holding of equity interests in underlying asset holding companies. The Company will invest via equity or debt interests in such asset holding companies. The asset holding companies will use the funds received by the Company to acquire Forestry Assets directly or indirectly through intermediate holding companies.
Returns generated by the asset holding companies (either from the sale of harvested timber, the sale of Carbon Credits or from ancillary non-core revenue sources) will either be retained by the relevant asset holding companies and reinvested or paid to the Company in the form of dividends, distributions or the payment of interest on intra-group debt.
The Group may acquire freehold or leasehold interests in Forestry Assets or may acquire the shares in corporate entities holding such Forestry Assets.
7
Investments in Forestry Assets will typically entail 100% ownership by the Group. The Group may, however, enter into joint venture arrangements alongside one or more co-investors where the Investment Manager, in consultation with the Board, believes it is in the Group's best interests to do so (such as where an investment opportunity is too large for the resources of the Group on its own, to share risk or where a joint venture arrangement will optimise returns for the Group). In the case of such co-investments, the Group will target retaining a control position, where this is possible, or, where this is not possible, will have strong minority investor protections and governance rights.
In addition, as part of a transaction to acquire Forestry Assets, the Group may end up owning ancillary non-forestry related assets, including, but not limited to, residential land and buildings, vehicles, equipment, agricultural outbuildings and small-scale renewable energy assets (together "Non-Core Assets"). Where appropriate and beneficial to the overall strategy, the Group will look to realise the value of any Non-Core Assets over time for the benefit of Shareholders.
The Investment Manager will have overall responsibility for asset managing the Group's Forestry Assets (including any ancillary non-core revenue streams) and Non-Core Assets. The Group will also appoint appropriate specialist third party forestry management companies who will be responsible for the day to day physical management of the Group's Forestry Assets, including harvesting and planting activity.
The Group's Forestry Assets will, where commercially appropriate, be operated with a view to generating Carbon Credits. Save where the sale of Carbon Credits is required to meet the working capital needs of the Group, the Company intends to realise the value of Carbon Credits for the direct benefit of Shareholders. Generally, the Company intends, when appropriate, to sell Carbon Credits and make aperiodic distributions to Shareholders of the net proceeds of such sales. As an alternative to receiving a cash distribution, the Company intends, where practicable, to offer Shareholders the option to elect to receive distributions "in kind" of Carbon Credits. The method and process for the distribution of any Carbon Credits "in kind" will be determined by the Board from time to time. The Company currently does not intend to retire Carbon Credits on behalf of Shareholders. The Company may, in the future, if considered appropriate, retire certain Carbon Credits generated from the Group's Forestry Assets for the purposes of meeting the Group's own net zero targets.
The Company will invest and manage its assets with the objective of spreading risk and, in doing so, will maintain the following investment restrictions:
Subject at all times to the investment restrictions set out above and the Company's cash management policy set out below, the Company will only invest in Non-Commercial Forestry assets or Commercial Forestry assets (with any Non-Core Assets being considered to be an ancillary part of such Forestry Assets).
In accordance with the requirements of the Listing Rules, the Company will not undertake any trading activity which is material in the context of the Group as a whole.
The investment restrictions set out above apply following full investment of the Initial Net Proceeds. Compliance with the above investment limits will be measured at the time of investment and non- compliance resulting from changes in the price or value of assets following investment will not be considered as a breach of the investment limits.
The Directors may use gearing to enhance the potential for income returns and long-term capital growth, and to provide capital flexibility. If used, it is expected that gearing will primarily be used on a short-term basis, for liquidity and working capital purposes (including, but not limited to, for the payment of fees to the Investment Manager) or to finance the acquisition of investments. However, the Board will always follow a prudent approach for the asset class with regards to gearing, and the Company will maintain a conservative level of aggregate borrowings that will not exceed 30% of Gross Asset Value, calculated at the time of draw down. The Board will keep the level of borrowings under review.
The Company will not employ derivatives for investment purposes. Derivatives may however be used for efficient portfolio management.
The Company may hold cash on deposit for working capital purposes and awaiting investment and, as well as cash deposits, may invest in cash equivalent investments, which may include government issued treasury bills, money market collective investment schemes, other money market instruments and short-term investments in money market type funds ("Cash and Cash Equivalents"). There is no restriction on the amount of Cash and Cash Equivalents that the Company may hold and there may be times when it is appropriate for the Company to have a significant Cash and Cash Equivalents position.
The Company will, as far as is reasonably possible, invest its Cash and Cash Equivalents in a manner that is compatible with the principle of climate change mitigation.
Any material change to the Company's investment policy set out above will require the approval of the FCA and Shareholders by way of an ordinary resolution at a general meeting. In the event of a breach of the investment guidelines and/or the investment restrictions set out above, the Investment Manager shall inform the Board as soon as practicable upon becoming aware of any breach. If the Board considers the breach to be material, notification will be made through an announcement via a Regulatory Information Service.
21 February 2024
Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of Foresight Sustainable Forestry Company plc ("the Company") will be held on 21 February 2024 at 1.00 pm at the offices of Foresight Group, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9SG for the purpose of considering and, if thought fit, passing the following resolutions, of which resolutions 1 to 10 will be proposed as ordinary resolutions and resolutions 11 and 13 will be proposed as special resolutions.
To receive the Annual Report and Accounts of the Company for the year ended 30 September 2023.
To approve the Directors' Remuneration Report included in the Annual Report for the year ended 30 September 2023.
To re‑elect Richard Davidson as a Director of the Company.
To re‑elect Sarika Patel as a Director of the Company.
Resolution Five To re‑elect Christopher Sutton as a Director of the Company.
To re‑elect Josephine Bush as a Director of the Company.
To re‑appoint Ernst & Young LLP as auditor to the Company.
To authorise the Directors to fix the auditor's remuneration until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company.
That, in addition to all existing authorities, the Directors be generally and unconditionally authorised pursuant to section 551 of the Companies Act 2006 (the "Act") to allot shares in the Company, or to grant rights to subscribe for or convert any security into shares in the Company, up to an aggregate nominal amount of £172,056.08 or, if less, the aggregate nominal amount equal to 10% of the nominal value of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) immediately prior to the passing of this resolution). The authority given by this resolution 9 shall, unless renewed, varied or revoked by the Company, expire on the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company or, if earlier, upon the expiry of 15 months from the date of passing of this resolution, save that the Company may, before such expiry, make any offer or enter into an agreement which would or might require shares to be allotted or rights to subscribe for or convert any security into shares to be granted in pursuance of such an offer or agreement as if such authority had not expired.
That the Company adopts the proposed changes to its investment policy, as set out in Part 2 of this circular of the Company dated 6 December 2023 which contains this Notice of Annual General Meeting.
That, in addition to all existing authorities and subject to the passing of resolution 9, the Directors be and are empowered pursuant to sections 570 and 573 of the Act to allot equity securities (within the meaning of section 560(1) of that Act) for cash either pursuant to the authority conferred by resolution 9 or by way of sale of treasury shares as if section 561(1) of that Act did not apply to any such allotment or sale, provided that this power shall be limited to the allotment and/or sale of equity securities with an aggregate nominal value of up to £172,056.08 or, if less, the aggregate nominal amount equal to 10% of the nominal value of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company immediately prior to the passing of this resolution. This authority shall also be limited to the allotment of equity securities and/or the sale of equity securities held in treasury at a price of not less than the net asset value per share as close as practicable to the allotment or sale. This authority will expire at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company or, if earlier, upon the expiry of 15 months from the date of passing of this resolution, save that the Company may, before such expiry, make any offer or enter into an agreement which would or might require the allotment and/or sale from treasury of equity securities in the Company in pursuance of such an offer or agreement as if such authority had not expired.
That the Company be generally and unconditionally authorised in accordance with section 701 of the Act to make market purchases (within the meaning of section 693(4) of the Act) of its ordinary shares of £0.01 each ("Ordinary Shares"), provided that:
That, a general meeting, other than an AGM, may be called on not less than 14 clear days' notice.
Company Secretary 6 December 2023
The Shard 32 London Bridge Street London SE1 9SG
CREST members who wish to appoint a proxy or proxies through the CREST electronic proxy appointment service may do so for the meeting (and any adjournment of the meeting) by following the procedures described in the CREST Manual (available via www.euroclear.com). CREST Personal Members or other CREST sponsored members (and those CREST members who have appointed a voting service provider) should refer to their CREST sponsor or voting service provider, who will be able to take the appropriate action on their behalf.
In order for a proxy appointment or instruction 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 & International Limited's (EUI) specifications and must contain the information required for such instructions, as described in the CREST Manual. The message (regardless of whether it constitutes the appointment of a proxy or an amendment to the instruction given to a previously appointed proxy) must, in order to be valid, be transmitted so as to be received by the issuer's agent (ID 3RA50) by the latest time(s) for receipt of proxy appointments specified in Note 3 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. After this time any change of instructions to a proxy appointed through CREST should be communicated to him by other means.
CREST members (and, where applicable, their CREST sponsors or voting service providers) should note that EUI does not take 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, to procure that his CREST sponsor or voting service provider takes) 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.
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