AGM Information • Apr 4, 2024
AGM Information
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Hilton London Metropole, 225 Edgware Road, London W2 1JU on Thursday, 30 May 2024 at 10:30am.
This document is important and requires your immediate attention:
If you are in any doubt as to the action you should take, you should consult your stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other professional adviser authorised pursuant to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. If you have sold or transferred all of your shares in Bodycote plc ("Company"), please forward this document together with the accompanying Form of Proxy, to the purchaser or transferee, or to the stockbroker, bank or other agent through whom the sale was effected without delay, for delivery to the purchaser or transferee. If you have sold some but not all of your shares, please contact your stockbroker, bank or other agent through whom the sale was effected without delay for advice as to how to proceed.
Shareholders may, as an alternative, register a proxy electronically on the Company registrar's website at www.sharevote.co.uk. To be valid, the Form of Proxy, or registration of your proxy electronically, in accordance with the instructions printed thereon, must be lodged by post or by hand with the Company's registrar, Equiniti, Aspect House, Spencer Road, Lancing, West Sussex BN99 6DA during normal office hours or registered electronically on the Company registrar's website at www.shareview.co.uk, no later than 10:30am on 28 May 2024.
Bodycote plc Registered in England and Wales No 519057 Registered Office: Springwood Court, Springwood Close Tytherington Business Park Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 2XF 15 March 2024
As you will see from the enclosed notice of the Annual General Meeting of the Company ("Notice of AGM"), to be held on Thursday, 30 May 2024 at 10:30am, in addition to the ordinary business to be transacted at the meeting, your Board is proposing five items of special business, as set out in Resolutions 14 to 18.
The ordinary business of the meeting will include the approval of the Annual Report, declaration of a final dividend, appointment of auditors, authorisation of auditors' remuneration, proposals to elect and re-elect each of the Directors in line with the UK Corporate Governance Code and approval of the annual remuneration report. Further explanation of the ordinary business of the Annual General Meeting is set out on page 2 of the Notice of AGM.
The special business includes the renewal of the authority for Directors to allot shares, the renewal of the powers for Directors to allot shares on a non- pre-emptive basis, the renewal of the authority for the Company to purchase its own shares and the renewal of authority for the Company to call General Meetings on 14 days' notice. Further details of the special business of the Annual General Meeting are set out on pages 2 and 3 of the Notice of AGM.
You will find enclosed a Form of Proxy which, to be effective, you should please complete in accordance with the instructions given and return so as to reach the Company's registrar in order to be considered valid not later than 10:30am on 28 May 2023. If you wish to vote electronically, you can do so through www.shareview.co.uk. CREST members who wish to appoint a proxy via the CREST electronic proxy appointment service should refer to the CREST section on page 3 of the Notice of AGM. Institutional investors may also be able to appoint a proxy electronically via the Proxymity voting platform, information about which can be found on page 3 of the Notice of AGM. All proxies must be lodged not later than 10:30am on 28 May 2024.
Please note, that if you are unable to attend the Annual General Meeting in person, you are strongly recommended to vote by proxy and to appoint the Chair of the meeting as your proxy to exercise all or any of your rights to attend, vote or speak at the Annual General Meeting by using the methods described above. Alternatively, you may appoint another person as your proxy to exercise all or any of your rights to attend, vote and speak at the Annual General Meeting, though should restrictions be reintroduced or circumstances arise that prevented such person from attending the Annual General Meeting in person or electronically, your vote may not be cast.
Shareholders may submit questions for the Board of Directors in writing in advance of the Annual General Meeting to the registered office address given above or by email to [email protected] stating your name and Investor Code (as printed on your share certificate or obtained through Equiniti, the registrar). Representative answers will be published on the Company website in due course.
Your Board believes that Resolutions 1 to 18 to be proposed are all in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole and accordingly recommend that you vote in favour of them as they intend to do in respect of their own beneficial holdings.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Dayan Chair

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 71st Annual General Meeting of BODYCOTE PLC will be held at Hilton London Metropole, 225 Edgware Road, London W2 1JU on Thursday, 30 May 2024, at 10:30am for the following purposes:
To consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following resolutions, of which Resolution 14 will be proposed as an ordinary resolution and Resolutions 15 to 18 will be proposed as special resolutions:
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 such authorities shall expire on the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2025 or on 29 August 2025, whichever is earlier, save that, the Company may make offers or agreements which would or might require shares to be allotted or rights to subscribe for or convert securities into shares to be granted after the authority ends and the Directors may allot shares or grant rights to subscribe for or convert securities into shares in pursuance of any such offer or agreement as if the authority hereby conferred had not ended. These authorities are in substitution for all existing authorities under section 551 of the Act (which, to the extent unused at the date of this resolution, are revoked with immediate effect).
and such power shall expire on the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2025 or on 29 August 2025, whichever is earlier, save that the Company may before such expiry make an offer or agreement for cash which would or might require equity securities to be allotted or treasury shares to be sold after such expiry, and the Directors may allot equity securities or sell treasury shares in pursuance of such offer or agreement as if the power conferred by this resolution had not expired.
This power is in substitution for all existing powers under sections 570 and 573 of the Act (which, to the extent unused at the date of this resolution, are revoked with immediate effect).
and such power shall expire on the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2025 or on 29 August 2025, whichever is earlier, save that the Company may before such expiry make an offer or agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted or treasury shares to be sold for cash after such expiry, and the Directors may allot equity securities or sell treasury shares for cash in pursuance of such offer or agreement as if the power conferred by this resolution had not expired.
This power is in substitution for all existing powers under sections 570 and 573 of the Act (which, to the extent unused at the date of this resolution, are revoked with immediate effect).
and the authority herein contained shall expire on the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2025 or on 29 August 2025, whichever is earlier, save that the Company may, before such expiry, make a contract to purchase its own shares which would or may be completed or executed wholly or partly after such expiry, and the Company may make a purchase of its own shares in pursuance of such contract as if the authority hereby conferred had not expired.
18. That as permitted by section 307A of the Companies Act 2006 any general meeting of the Company (other than the Annual General Meeting of the Company) shall be called by notice of at least 14 clear days in accordance with the provisions of the Articles of Association provided that the authority of this resolution shall expire on the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2025.
By order of the Board:
A. Broughton Springwood Court Group Company Secretary Springwood Close 15 March 2024 Tytherington Business Park Macclesfield Cheshire SK10 2XF
Under the Articles each Director must retire from office and stand for re-election by shareholders as a minimum at every third Annual General Meeting in order to continue to serve as a Director. However, in line with the UK Corporate Governance Code 2018, and to further increase accountability, all Directors will retire at this Annual General Meeting and stand for re-election by the shareholders if they wish to continue to serve as Directors. Accordingly, the Directors retiring and offering themselves for re-election are: Mr P. Larmon, Ms L. Chahbazi, Mr K. Boyd, Mr D. Dayan, Ms C. Gordon and Mr B Fidler.
Ms B García-Cos Muntañola and Mr J. Fairbairn, were appointed as Directors on 1 September 2023 and 11 March 2024 respectively, and accordingly offer themselves for election pursuant to article 116.1 of the Articles. The Board consider that Ms García-Cos Muntañola and Mr Fairbairn will make valuable contributions to the Board and that they each have the skills and experience relevant and beneficial to support the Board in fulfilling its duties. Their appointments to the Board were recommended by the Nominations Committee.
Having reviewed the recommendations of the Nominations Committee concerning these elections and re-elections and following the Board performance evaluation completed during the year, the Board has concluded that each of the Directors continues to make an effective and valuable contribution and demonstrates commitment to the role of Director. The Board believes each of the Directors has significant international experience, are experts in their relevant fields and bring a unique insight from the various countries in which they have operated. Their respective experience ensure the Board demonstrates a diversity of skill, background, and key individual strengths, which encourages debate and allows for open and varied boardroom discussions. The Board is also satisfied that each of the Non-Executive Directors remain independent in character and judgement and that there are no relationships or circumstances likely to affect his or her character or judgement.
The biographical details, set out in the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023 on pages 54 to 55, are provided in support of the Board's unanimous recommendation to elect and re-elect those Directors of the Company who are standing at the Annual General Meeting.
As announced on 31 May 2023, Stephen Harris will step down from his role as Group Chief Executive and retire from the Company at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting. The Board would like to take this opportunity to thank Stephen for his contribution to the Company since his appointment sixteen years ago and wish him well for the future.
UK listed companies are required to put before shareholders in general meeting a resolution inviting shareholders to approve the Directors' annual report on remuneration. This is an advisory vote and the Directors' entitlement to receive remuneration is not conditional upon it. The annual report on remuneration gives details of the Directors' remuneration for the period ended 31 December 2023 and has been prepared in accordance with Part 3 of Schedule 8 of The Large and Medium-Size Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 (as amended).
The Act provides that Directors shall only allot unissued shares with the authority of shareholders in general meeting. The authority given to the Directors at the last Annual General Meeting to allot (or issue) unissued shares expires on the date of this year's Annual General Meeting.
Resolution 14 renews a similar authority given at last year's Annual General Meeting. Resolution 14 will be proposed as an ordinary resolution for the renewal of the Directors' general authority to issue shares in the Company and to grant rights to subscribe for or to convert any security into shares in the Company:
The Directors have no present intention of exercising either of these authorities, however consider that it is in the best interests of the Company to have the authorities available so that they have the maximum flexibility permitted by institutional shareholder guidelines to allot shares or grant rights to be allotted without the need for a general meeting should they determine that it is appropriate to do so.
As at the date of this document, no ordinary shares are held by the Company as treasury shares.
If given, the authority granted under Resolution 14 will expire on the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2025 or on 29 August 2025, whichever is earlier.
The Act 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 Act. The authorities given to the Directors at the last Annual General Meeting to allot shares for cash pursuant to section 570 of the Act expire on the date of this year's Annual General Meeting.
Resolutions 15 and 16 which will be proposed as special resolutions will enable the Directors' to allot equity securities for cash or sell treasury shares for cash, without first offering them to shareholders pro rata to their holdings. These resolutions take a similar form as the resolutions proposed at last year's Annual General Meeting.
Resolution 15 facilitates issues made by way of rights to shareholders which are not strictly in accordance with section 561 of the Act, and authorises other allotments of up to a maximum aggregate nominal amount of £3,306,970.20, representing approximately 10 per cent of the current issued ordinary share capital of the Company without having to comply with statutory pre-emption rights.
This resolution renews the authority obtained at last year's Annual General Meeting. If given, the authority granted under Resolution 15 will expire on the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2025 or on 29 August 2025, whichever is earlier.
Resolution 16 seeks authority to allot an additional maximum aggregate nominal amount of £3,306,970.20, representing approximately 10 per cent of the current issued ordinary share capital of the Company without having to comply with statutory pre-emption rights. Like last year, the power proposed under Resolution 16 will be limited for use only for the purposes of financing (or refinancing, if such refinancing occurs within twelve months of the original transaction) a transaction which the Directors determine to be an acquisition or other capital investment of a kind contemplated by the Statement of Principles on Disapplying Pre-Emption Rights most recently published by the Pre-Emption Group prior to the date of this notice. If given, the authority granted under Resolution 16 will expire on the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2025 or on 29 August 2025, whichever is earlier.
The Directors intend to adhere to the 2022 Statement of Principles issued by The Pre-Emption Group, which provides that a company can seek annual disapplication of (i) 10 per cent of the issued ordinary share capital to be issued on an unrestricted basis; (ii) an additional 10 per cent of issued ordinary share capital to be used for either an acquisition or specified capital investment provided that, in the circular for the AGM at which such additional authority is sought, the company confirms that it intends to use it only in connection with an acquisition or specified capital investment which is announced contemporaneously with the issue, or which has taken place in the preceding 12 month period and is disclosed in the announcement of the issue; (iii) a further 2 per cent for a follow-on offer to existing holders of securities not allocated shares under an issue made under either (i) or (ii).
Under article 9 of the Articles the Company is empowered to purchase its own shares. The Directors consider that the power to make purchases in the market of the Company's own shares should be maintained and accordingly recommend the approval of the special resolution set out as Resolution 17. The Directors intend to exercise this authority only where, in the light of market conditions prevailing at that time, they believe that the effect of such purchases would be to increase earnings per share and would be in the best interests of the Company and of its shareholders generally. Any shares purchased in this way will be cancelled and the number of shares in issue will be reduced accordingly or held as treasury shares. The resolution specifies the maximum and minimum prices at which shares may be bought, and the maximum number of shares which may be bought, being 10 per cent of the Company's issued ordinary share capital at 15 March 2024. At that date there were no share options over unissued shares.
Section 307A of the Act provides that a general meeting of a 'traded company' such as the Company must be called by at least 21 days' notice but may be called by at least 14 days' notice if three conditions are met. The three conditions are that:
The Directors consider it desirable that general meetings of the Company, other than the Annual General Meeting, can be called on at least 14 clear days' notice. Resolution 18, which will be proposed as a special resolution, will authorise the Company to call general meetings other than Annual General Meetings on 14 days' notice and the authority granted by this resolution will expire at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting.
Any members' statements, members' resolutions and members' matters of business received by the Company after the date of this notice will be added to the information already available on the website as soon as reasonably practicable and will also be made available for the following two years.
and in the case of (a), (b) and (c) must be received by the Company by no later than 10:30am on 28 May 2024.
(d) Institutional investors may be able to appoint a proxy electronically via the Proxymity platform, a process which has been agreed by the Company and approved by the Registrar. For further information regarding Proxymity, please go to www.proxymity.io. Your proxy must be lodged by no later than 10:30am on 28 May 2024 in order to be considered valid. Before you can appoint a proxy via this process you will need to have agreed to Proxymity's associated terms and conditions. It is important that you read these carefully as you will be bound by them and they will govern the electronic appointment of your proxy.
If more than one proxy appointment is returned in respect of the same shares, either by paper or electronic communication, the proxy received last by Equiniti before the latest time for the receipt of proxies will take precedence.
8. CREST members who wish to appoint a proxy or proxies through the CREST electronic proxy appointment service may do so for the AGM and any adjournment thereof by using the procedures described in the CREST Manual (which can be viewed at www.euroclear.com). CREST personal members or other CREST sponsored members, and those CREST members who have appointed a voting service provider(s), should refer to their CREST sponsor or voting service provider(s), 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 ("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 regardless of whether it relates to the appointment of a proxy or to 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 RA 19) by the latest time(s) for receipt of proxy appointments specified in this notice of meeting. 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. The Company may treat as invalid a CREST Proxy Instruction in the circumstances set out in Regulation 35(5) of the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001. 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 therefore 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 or her 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.
If you are a person with information rights under section 146 of the Act you do not have the right to appoint a proxy. Any such forms returned by such persons will be ineffective. You may however have specific rights to instruct the member who granted you information rights as to how such member exercises their right to appoint a proxy.
Whichever form of communication is chosen, the request must either set out the statement in full or, if supporting a statement sent by another member, clearly identify the statement which is being supported, and be received by the Company at least one week before the AGM.
The address at paragraphs (b) above is, in accordance with article 178 of the Articles, specified solely for the purpose of communications in respect of this meeting and for no other purpose.
11. Under sections 338 and 338A of the Act, members meeting the threshold requirements in those sections have the right to require the Company (i) to give, to members of the Company entitled to receive notice of the meeting, notice of a resolution which may properly be moved and is intended to be moved at the meeting and/or (ii) to include in the business to be dealt with at the meeting any matter (other than a proposed resolution) which may be properly included in the business. A resolution may properly be moved, or a matter may properly be included in the business unless (a) (in the case of a resolution only) it would, if passed, be ineffective (whether by reason of inconsistency with any enactment or the Company's constitution or otherwise), (b) it is defamatory of any person, or (c) it is frivolous or vexatious. Such a request may be in hard copy or electronic form, must identify the resolution of which notice is to be given or the matter to be included in the business, must be authorised by the person or persons making it, must be received by the Company not later than 18 April 2024, being the date six weeks before the meeting, and (in the case of a matter to be included in the business only) must be accompanied by a statement setting out the grounds for the request.
12. Copies of the Executive Directors' service contracts and Non-executive Directors' letters of appointment will be available for inspection at the Company's registered office during normal business hours on each business day (Saturday, Sundays and public holidays excepted) from the date of this notice until the conclusion of the AGM. There is no Director's service contract of more than one year's duration. The documents referred to above will also be available for inspection at the place of the meeting from at least 15 minutes before the start of the meeting until its conclusion.
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