AGM Information • Aug 18, 2011
AGM Information
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This document is important and requires your immediate attention.
If you are in any doubt about the action you should take, you should seek your own personal financial advice from your stockbroker, bank, solicitor, fund manager or other independent financial adviser authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
If you have sold or otherwise transferred your shares in NCC Group plc, please forward this document to the stockbroker, bank or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was effected, for transmission to the purchaser or transferee.
(Registered in England No.4627044)
Registered Office: Manchester Technology Centre Oxford Road Manchester M1 7EF
Dear Shareholder
I am pleased to invite you to attend the 2011 Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held at Manchester Technology Centre, Oxford Road, Manchester M1 7EF at 11am on Wednesday 21 September 2011.
As you will see from the formal Notice of Meeting set out on pages 5 to 7 of this document, in addition to the ordinary business to be dealt with at the meeting, there are items of special business contained in Resolutions 11 to 14 (inclusive). An explanation of all the resolutions to be put to the Annual General Meeting is set out on pages 2 to 4 of this document.
The directors believe that the resolutions referred to in this letter, which are to be proposed at the Annual General Meeting are in the best interests of the Company and of the shareholders as a whole and recommend shareholders to vote in favour of them.
Whether or not you intend to come to the meeting, please complete and return the proxy form we have sent to you. The Company's Registrar must receive the completed proxy form, at the address on the form, by no later than 11am on 19 September 2011. Alternatively you can vote using our CREST proxy voting service following the procedures set out in the CREST manual. You will still be able to vote on the day of the meeting but if you have already submitted a proxy form, this will only be necessary if you intend to change the voting instructions given on your proxy form.
The directors and I look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
Yours faithfully
Paul Mitchell Non Executive Chairman
The directors will present to the shareholders at the Annual General Meeting the accounts for the previous financial year, on this occasion for the year ended 31 May 2011, together with their reports and the auditor's report on those accounts.
The directors are required to include certain information within the remuneration report and must submit that report for approval by shareholders at each Annual General Meeting in accordance with the Directors' Remuneration Report Regulations 2002 and section 439(1) of the Companies Act 2006 ('2006 Act'). The remuneration report has been prepared accordingly and approved by the directors.
The remuneration report is included in full on pages 41 to 48 of the NCC Group plc Report and Accounts 2011.
Final dividends are to be approved by the shareholders. However, they cannot be more than the amount the board recommends. The board is recommending a final dividend of 8.85 pence per ordinary share for the year ending 31 May 2011. If shareholders approve the recommended dividend, it will be paid on 30 September 2011 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 2 September 2011.
The auditor of the Company is required to be appointed or re-appointed at each annual general meeting at which accounts are presented. It is normal practice for a company's directors to be authorised to fix the auditor's remuneration and shareholders' approval to do so is sought in this resolution.
Under the Articles of Association of the Company two of the directors must retire by rotation each year, and each director must offer himself for re-election at least every three years. However in accordance with best practice all directors are offering themselves for re-election this year.
Atul Patel has been appointed as a director of the Company since the annual general meeting held in 2010. Under the Articles of Association of the Company, Mr Patel is required to stand for election at the next annual general meeting of the Company following his appointment and as such puts himself forward for election by the shareholders at this Annual General Meeting.
The board believes that each of the directors continues to perform effectively and with commitment to their roles. The biographies of the Directors are set out on pages 25 to 26 of the NCC Group plc Report and Accounts 2011.
The 2006 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 and issue shares in the capital of the Company pursuant to section 551 of the 2006 Act shall expire at the conclusion of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting. The board recommends that this authority be renewed.
Resolution 11(a), if passed, will give the directors authority to allot new shares up to a nominal value of £113,810.13 (representing 11,381,013 ordinary shares), which represents approximately one-third of the issued share capital of the Company as at 5 August 2011, (being the latest practicable date prior to publication of this document).
The directors' current intention is to only exercise the authority sought under paragraph (a) of resolution 11 to satisfy the Company's obligations under employee share schemes.
In line with the guidelines issued by the Association of British Insurers, paragraph (b) of resolution 11 seeks additional authority to allot shares up to a further nominal amount of £113,810.13, representing approximately one-third of the issued share capital as at 5 August 2011, solely to be used in connection with a pre-emptive rights issue.
The directors currently have no intention to utilise the additional authority to allot shares sought under resolution 11(b).
Each of the authorities sought under resolution 11 will expire on the conclusion of the Company's 2012 Annual General Meeting. Should the directors exercise the authorities sought under resolution 11, they intend to follow ABI recommendations concerning their use (including as regards the directors standing for re-election in certain cases).
As at 5 August 2011 (being the latest practicable date prior to publication of this document) no shares are held by the Company in treasury.
Resolution 12 will be proposed as a special resolution and seeks to renew the authority conferred on the directors at last year's annual general meeting to allot equity securities for cash, pursuant to section 570 of the 2006 Act, 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 of the 2006 Act, and authorises other allotments up to an aggregate nominal amount of £17,071.52 (representing 1,707,152 ordinary shares), which represents approximately 5% of the Company's issued equity share capital as at 5 August 2011(being the latest practicable date prior to publication of this document).
The authority sought under resolution 12 will expire on the conclusion of the Company's 2012 Annual General Meeting. The directors have no present intention of exercising this authority.
In accordance with the guidelines issued by the Pre-emption Group, the directors confirm their intention that no more than 7.5% of the Company's issued share capital will be issued for cash on a non pre-emptive basis during any rolling three-year period.
The directors believe it is in the interests of the Company and its shareholders to have the flexibility to purchase its own shares and this resolution seeks authority from shareholders to do so. The directors will only exercise this authority after considering the market conditions prevailing at the time, the potential effect on earnings per share and the benefits for shareholders generally. If any purchases of ordinary shares are made pursuant to this authority, it is intended that such ordinary shares will either be cancelled or held in treasury in accordance with the provisions of the 2006 Act. No dividends will be paid on, and no voting rights will be exercised in respect of shares held in treasury. Any purchases of ordinary shares would be by means of market purchases on the London Stock Exchange.
This resolution would be limited to 3,414,303 ordinary shares, representing approximately 10% of the issued equity share capital of the Company as at 5 August 2011 (being the latest practicable date prior to publication of this document). The authority also sets minimum and maximum prices. The renewed authority will remain in force until the earlier of 20 December 2012 and the conclusion of the Company's 2012 Annual General meeting. The directors intend to seek renewal of this power at each annual general meeting.
The total number of options to subscribe for ordinary shares for all share schemes of the Company which were outstanding as at 5 August 2011 was 1,206,058 which represents 3.5% of the Company's issued share capital and would represent 3.9% of the Company's issued share capital if the full authority to repurchase ordinary shares as proposed by resolution 13 was exercised. As at 5 August 2011, no shares are held by the Company in treasury.
Resolution 14 enables the Company to hold general meetings (other than annual general meetings) on 14 clear days' notice. The Company's articles of association currently permit such notice period but this resolution is now required in order to comply with the Shareholders' Rights Regulations.
Notice is hereby given that NCC Group plc ('Company') will hold its Annual General Meeting at Manchester Technology Centre, Oxford Road, Manchester, M1 7EF at 11am on 21 September 2011 to consider and, if thought fit, pass the following resolutions. Resolutions 1 to 11 inclusive will be proposed as ordinary resolutions and resolutions 12, 13 and 14 will be proposed as special resolutions:
To declare a final dividend for the financial year ended 31 May 2011 of 8.85p per ordinary
of this meeting until the conclusion of the next general meeting at which accounts are laid
pursuant to section 551 of the Companies Act 2006 (in substitution for any existing authority
(a) shares in the Company and to grant rights to subscribe for or to convert any security into shares in the Company up to an aggregate nominal amount of £113,810.13;
may be) to the respective numbers of ordinary shares held by them up to an aggregate nominal amount of £113,810.13,
(b) equity securities (within the meaning of section 560 of the said Act) in connection with a rights issue in favour of ordinary shareholders where the equity securities respectively attributable to the interests of all ordinary shareholders are proportionate (as nearly as
provided that this authority shall expire on the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company after the passing of this resolution, save that the Company may before such expiry make an offer or agreement which would or might require shares to be allotted or rights to be granted after such expiry and the Directors may allot shares or grant such rights in pursuance of such an offer or agreement as if the authority conferred hereby had not expired.
and such power shall expire on the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company after the passing of this resolution 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 after such expiry, and the board may allot equity securities or sell treasury shares in pursuance of such an offer or agreement as if the power conferred by this resolution had not expired.
(b) the authority herein contained shall expire at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2012 or on 20 December 2012, whichever is earlier, provided that the Company may, before such expiry, make a contract to purchase its own shares which would or might be 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 hereby had not expired.
That a general meeting of the Company other than an Annual General Meeting may be called on not less than 14 clear days' notice.
By Order of the Board Dated: 18 August 2011 Felicity Brandwood Registered office:
Secretary Manchester Technology Centre Oxford Road Manchester M1 7EF
To be valid, the completed proxy forms must be received by the Company's Registrar, Equiniti Registrars by no later than 11am on 19 September 2011 and should be addressed to Freepost SEA 10846, Equiniti, Aspect House, Spencer Road, Lancing, West Sussex BN99 6ZL.
In order for a proxy appointment or instruction made using the CREST service to be valid, the appropriate CREST message (a ''CREST Proxy Instruction'') must be properly authenticated in accordance with CREST's specifications and must contain the information required for such instructions, as described in the CREST Manual which can be viewed at www.euroclear. com/CREST. 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, to be valid, be transmitted so as to be received by the issuer's agent (ID RA19) by 11am on 19 September 2011. 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 proxies appointed through CREST should be communicated to the appointee through other means.
CREST members and, where applicable, their CREST sponsors or voting service providers should note that there are no 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 Company's register of members ("Register"). We have set a time and date for eligibility disregard changes to entries on the Register after 6pm on 19 September 2011. If the meeting were to be adjourned for any reason, then only those shareholders registered in the Register
appointment of all non-executive Directors will be available for inspection at the registered general meeting and at the place of the annual general meeting from at least 15 minutes
election by shareholders, including their membership of Board committees, are set out on
agreement between him/her and the shareholder by whom he/she was nominated, have a general meeting. If a Nominated Person has no such proxy appointment right or does not wish to exercise it, he/she may, under any such agreement, have a right to give instructions shareholders in relation to the appointment of proxies above does not apply to Nominated Persons. The rights described in these paragraphs can only be exercised by shareholders of
who may exercise on its behalf all of its powers as a member, provided they do not do so in
questions unless (i) to do so would interfere unduly with the preparation for the meeting or involve the disclosure of confidential information; or (ii) the answer has already been given on a website in the form of an answer to a question; or (iii) it is undesirable in the interests of
(iii) the totals of the voting rights that members are entitled to exercise at the meeting in
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.
Where the Company is required to publish such a statement on its website it may not require the members making the request to pay any expenses incurred by the Company in complying with the request, it must forward the statement to the Company's auditors no later than the time the statement is made available on the Company's website, and the statement may be dealt with as part of the business of the annual general meeting.
A member or members wishing to request publication of such a statement on the Company's website must send the request to the Company using one of the following methods:
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 annual general meeting.
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