AGM Information • Mar 24, 2015
AGM Information
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Spectris plc Heritage House Church Road Egham Surrey TW20 9QD England
Tel: +44 (0)1784 470470 Fax: +44 (0)1784 470848 Email: [email protected] Web: www.spectris.com
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Letter from the Chairman to Ordinary Shareholders
23 March 2015
Notice of Annual General Meeting To be held on 24 April 2015
Dear Shareholder,
The Annual General Meeting of Spectris plc (the "Company") will take place at Great Fosters, Stroude Road, Egham, Surrey TW20 9UR on 24 April 2015 at 12.30 p.m. The Notice of Annual General Meeting (the "AGM Notice") is set out on page 5 of this document.
Each shareholder registered on the register of members of the Company at 6.00 p.m. on 22 April 2015 is entitled to vote on the resolutions numbered 1 to 19 contained in the AGM Notice (the "Resolutions"). If you would like to vote on the Resolutions but cannot come to the Annual General Meeting, please complete the proxy form sent to you with this document and return it to our registrars as soon as possible and in any event not later than 12.30 p.m. on 22 April 2015.
Resolutions 1 to 15 (inclusive) are proposed as ordinary resolutions. This means that for each of those Resolutions to be passed, more than half of the votes cast must be in favour of the Resolution. Resolutions 16 to 19 (inclusive) are proposed as special resolutions. This means that for each of those Resolutions to be passed, at least three-quarters of the votes cast must be in favour.
Within the ordinary and special business (Resolutions 1 to 19) to be transacted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held on 24 April 2015 the following items proposed by your Board require further explanation.
Resolution 2
This is an advisory vote by shareholders on the annual Directors' Remuneration Report, which details the remuneration received or receivable by Directors in respect of the year ended 31 December 2014 in accordance with the Directors' Remuneration Policy, approved for a three year period at the 2014 AGM. The Directors' Remuneration Report is set out on pages 61 to 74 of the Annual Report and Accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2014.
The biographical details and other information required by the UK Corporate Governance Code (the "Code") for the Directors of the Company who are proposed to be elected and re-elected, as set out in Resolutions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, can be found on pages 42 and 43 of the Annual Report and Accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2014.
The Code requires the Board to set out the reasons why it believes that the Non-executive Directors standing for election or re-election (Peter Chambré, Lisa Davis, Russell King, Ulf Quellmann, Bill Seeger and Martha Wyrsch) should be re-elected.
Mr Chambré is chairman of immatics biotechnologies GmbH and 7TM Pharma AS, as well as a director of OneMed Sverige AB and Cancer Research Technology Limited and a non-executive director of Imperial Innovations Group plc. Mr Chambré was formerly chief executive officer of Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc and a non-executive director of BTG plc and prior to that was chief operating officer of Celera Genomics Group and chief executive of Bespak plc.
Mrs Davis is a member of the managing board of Siemens AG and chairman of Siemens Corporation in the US. She was formerly executive vice president of strategy, portfolio and alternative energy, Shell International Petroleum Company.
Mr King is a non-executive director and chairman of the Remuneration Committee of Aggreko plc. He is chairman of Hummingbird Resources PLC and is a non-executive director of Sepura plc and Interserve Plc. Until October 2009 Mr King was chief strategy officer of Anglo American PLC and between 2006 and 2009 was a non-executive director of Anglo Platinum Limited. He previously spent over 20 years in senior roles at ICI, gaining worldwide experience in its fertiliser, petrochemical and paint businesses.
Mr Quellmann is Global Head of Treasury at Rio Tinto plc. He was previously vice president, investor relations and media relations and chief pension investment officer and assistant treasurer at Alcan Inc. Prior to that, Mr Quellmann held senior management positions at General Motors, including as senior manager, capital planning and managing director of Vauxhall Masterhire.
Mr Seeger is a non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee of Smiths Group plc. He was formerly group finance director of GKN plc and prior to that, president and CEO of the propulsion systems and special products division of GKN, having previously been CFO in the aerospace division. He spent most of his career at TRW, latterly in senior finance roles, including as vice president, financial planning & analysis and vice president, finance, of TRW Automotive.
Mrs Wyrsch has experience leading energy companies in natural gas, renewables and electricity generation, and is currently executive vice president and general counsel of Sempra Energy, quoted on the New York Stock Exchange. She was formerly president of Vestas Americas and prior to that was president and chief executive officer of Spectra Energy Transmission and a director of Spectra Energy, Inc., Spectra Energy Partners and Spectra Energy Income Fund. Previously she held the position of president and chief executive officer of Duke Energy Gas Transmission. Mrs Wyrsch is a director of the Cristo Rey Network, a US educational foundation, San Diego Gas and Electric Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sempra Energy, and Southern California Gas Company, a publicly traded company in the USA. She was formerly a non-executive director of SPX Corporation, a company quoted on the New York Stock Exchange.
The varied experience of each of these Directors is of benefit to the Board in its deliberations. Following formal evaluation, your Board believes that the performance of these Directors continues to be effective and that they have demonstrated the necessary commitment to their respective roles.
In addition to the ordinary business to be transacted at the Annual General Meeting, your Board is proposing the following five items of special business.
Under the Companies Act 2006 (the "2006 Act"), the Directors of the Company may generally only allot shares or grant rights over shares if authorised to do so by shareholders. In accordance with the current guidelines issued by the Investment Association (the "IA"), the Directors confirm their intention to seek renewal of the authority granted at the last Annual General Meeting which expires on 24 April 2015. The renewed authority is to be limited to shares up to an aggregate nominal
amount of £1,983,000 (being just less than one-third of the issued share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) on 9 March 2015, being the last practicable date prior to the publication of the AGM Notice. The Company held 6,008,477 shares in treasury at 9 March 2015, (being 5.05 per cent of the issued share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) on that date).
The authority conferred by this Resolution shall (unless previously revoked, varied or renewed) expire at the end of the Company's 2016 Annual General Meeting or, if sooner, 24 July 2016. However, the Company may make an offer or agreement prior to the expiry of this authority which would or might require relevant securities to be allotted after the expiry of this authority and in such a case the Directors will be permitted to allot securities pursuant to such offer or agreement as if this authority had not expired.
Other than in respect of the Company's obligations under its employee share schemes, the Directors have no present intention of issuing any shares under this authority, but they believe it to be in the best interests of the Company that they should continue to have this authority so that such allotments can take place to finance appropriate opportunities that may arise.
Your Directors also require additional authority from shareholders to allot shares, grant rights over shares or sell treasury shares where they propose to do so for cash otherwise than to existing shareholders pro rata to their holdings. Circumstances may arise in which it would be in the best interests of the Company for the Directors to have the power to issue a limited number of shares or sell treasury shares for cash otherwise than to existing shareholders, to take advantage of business opportunities as these arise or to manage the Company's capital base more effectively.
Your Board proposes that the authority granted at the last Annual General Meeting be renewed, in accordance with IA guidelines, to expire at the end of the Company's 2016 Annual General Meeting or, if sooner, 24 July 2016; thereby enabling the Directors to allot ordinary shares and sell treasury shares for cash free of statutory pre-emption rights up to an aggregate nominal amount of £312,500, which is equivalent to just less than five per cent of the issued share capital of the Company as at 9 March 2015 (being the last practicable date prior to the publication of the AGM Notice). The Directors confirm their intention that no more than 7.5 per cent of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) shall be allotted or re-sold (in the case of treasury shares) for cash on a non pre-emptive basis during any rolling three-year period.
The power given to the Company at the last Annual General Meeting to purchase its own shares expires on the date of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting. Your Directors continue to believe that it is in the best interests of the shareholders that the Company should be able to purchase its own shares in circumstances which, in the opinion of the Directors, should result in an improvement in earnings per share for the remaining shareholders.
Your Directors consider that it would be prudent to be able to act at short notice in making such purchases if it were in the best interests of the Company to do so having regard to other investment opportunities open to the Company. In reaching any decision to purchase ordinary shares, the Directors will take into account the Company's cash resources and capital requirements and the effect of any purchase on gearing levels and on earnings per share.
Any shares purchased under this authority may be cancelled or held as treasury shares. Companies may hold shares repurchased as treasury shares with a view to a possible re-sale at a future date rather than having to cancel them. This would give the Company the ability to re-issue treasury shares quickly and cost effectively and provide the Company with additional flexibility in the management of its capital base. Any transfers of treasury shares for the purposes of the Company's employee share schemes will be made within the recommended ten per cent anti-dilution limit set by the IA.
Following any purchase of shares under this authority, any consequent enhancement to the Spectris Performance Share Plan's performance measures will be disregarded in determining vesting of existing awards.
Your Directors are seeking the authority to make market purchases of up to 11,899,000 ordinary shares, representing just under ten per cent of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) on 9 March 2015 (being the last practicable date prior to the publication of the AGM notice). The maximum price to be paid for an ordinary share of the Company on any occasion will be 105 per cent of the average of the middle market quotations for ordinary shares of the Company as derived from the London Stock Exchange Daily Official List for the five business days preceding the day on which the purchase is made (exclusive of expenses). The minimum price to be paid for an ordinary share of the Company will be 5p (the nominal value of an ordinary share) (exclusive of expenses).
The authority conferred shall (unless previously revoked, varied or renewed) expire at the end of the Company's 2016 Annual General Meeting or, if sooner, 24 July 2016. However, if a contract for the purchase of ordinary shares is concluded before the expiry of this authority but the relevant purchase will or may be executed in whole or in part after the expiry of this authority, the Company is authorised to execute such purchase as if this authority had not expired.
The Company has no warrants outstanding and the total number of options to subscribe for equity shares outstanding on 9 March 2015 was 1,898,081, representing 1.6 per cent of the issued share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) on that date. If the full authority to buy back shares were to be used, the said outstanding options would represent 1.77 per cent of the issued share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) on that date.
It is proposed that the annual aggregate cap on Directors' fees and expenses in the Articles of Association should be raised from £500,000 to £650,000. Your Board considers it appropriate to increase the existing cap in view of the recent appointment of additional Non-executive Directors and in order to be able to continue to offer to such Directors remuneration reflective of the time commitment required in ensuring that corporate governance standards are maintained.
A copy of the New Articles will be available for inspection until the date of the Annual General Meeting at the registered office of the Company and on the Company's website at www.spectris.com, and also at the place specified for the Annual General Meeting for 15 minutes prior to and during the Annual General Meeting.
Both the 2006 Act and the Articles of Association of the Company permit general meetings (other than annual general meetings) of the Company to be held on 14 clear days' notice. However, the Companies (Shareholders' Rights) Regulations 2009 (the "Regulations") require that the notice period for general meetings is 21 days, unless the shareholders agree to a shorter notice period. According to the Regulations, companies may still hold general meetings (other than annual general meetings) on 14 days' notice provided electronic voting is made available to all members and that the preceding annual general meeting has approved the calling of general meetings on a 14 day notice period. In addition, the 2014 version of the UK Corporate Governance Code requires the adoption of at least 14 working days' notice for general meetings (other than annual general meetings). Your Directors therefore request authority to hold general meetings in the forthcoming year on 14 working days' notice ("Short Notice"), as they believe this gives greater flexibility and the ability for a faster response if an unexpected meeting is required. Such authority will be effective until the Company's next Annual General Meeting when it is intended that a similar resolution will be proposed. It is intended that general meetings will not be called on Short Notice as a matter of routine but that Short Notice will be used only when the flexibility of using it is merited by the business of the meeting, the circumstances surrounding that business and where calling a general meeting on Short Notice is in the interests of the shareholders as a whole.
Your Directors consider that the above proposals are in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders and unanimously recommend that you vote in favour of all the resolutions set out in the AGM Notice as they intend to do in respect of their own shareholdings.
Yours faithfully
Dr J L M Hughes CBE Chairman
Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of Spectris plc (the "Company") will be held at Great Fosters, Stroude Road, Egham, Surrey TW20 9UR on Friday 24 April 2015 at 12.30 p.m. to consider and, if thought fit, pass the following resolutions:
(ii) otherwise than pursuant to paragraph (i) of this resolution, up to an aggregate nominal amount of £312,500, and any such authority shall expire at the end of the Company's 2016 Annual General Meeting or, if sooner, 24 July 2016 (save that the Company may, before the expiry of the power hereby conferred, make any offer or agreement 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 pursuant to any such offer or agreement as if the power hereby conferred had not expired).
This power applies in relation to a sale of shares which is an allotment of equity securities by virtue of section 560(2)(b) of the 2006 Act as if in the first paragraph of this resolution the words "pursuant to the authority conferred by Resolution 15" were omitted.
BY ORDER OF THE BOARD
R J Stephens FCIS Secretary
Registered Office: Heritage House Church Road Egham Surrey TW20 9QD
23 March 2015
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 the specifications of Euroclear UK and Ireland Limited ("Euroclear") 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 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 RA19) by the latest time(s) for receipt of proxy appointments specified in the AGM Notice. 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 Euroclear 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 CREST Manual can be reviewed at www.euroclear.com/CREST.
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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