AGM Information • Apr 13, 2015
AGM Information
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THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. IF YOU ARE IN ANY DOUBT AS TO WHAT ACTION TO TAKE YOU ARE RECOMMENDED TO CONSULT YOUR STOCKBROKER, SOLICITOR, ACCOUNTANT OR OTHER INDEPENDENT ADVISER AUTHORISED UNDER THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000.
Notice of the eighth Annual General Meeting which has been convened for Tuesday 12 May 2015 at 12:00 p.m. at The Old Bridge Hotel, 1 High Street, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 3TQ is set out on pages 3 to 8 of this document.
If you have sold or transferred all of your Ordinary Shares in Hilton Food Group plc, you should pass this document, together with the accompanying form of proxy, to the person through whom the sale or transfer was made for transmission to the purchaser or transferee.
To be valid, forms of proxy must be completed and returned in accordance with the instructions printed thereon so as to be received by the Company's registrars, Equiniti Limited, Aspect House, Spencer Road, Lancing, West Sussex BN99 6DA as soon as possible and in any event not later than 48 hours before the time appointed for holding the meeting (excluding non-working days).
2-8 The Interchange, Latham Road, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 6YE England Tel: +44 (0) 1480 387214 / Fax: +44 (0) 1480 387241
10 April 2015
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Dear Shareholder
I am pleased to be writing to you with details of our eighth Annual General Meeting ("AGM") which we are holding at The Old Bridge Hotel, 1 High Street, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 3TQ on Tuesday 12 May 2015 at 12:00 p.m. The formal Notice of Annual General Meeting can be found on pages 3 to 6 of this document. Explanatory notes on all the business to be considered at this year's AGM appear on pages 7 and 8 of this document.
If you would like to vote on the resolutions but cannot come to the AGM, please fill in the proxy form sent to you with this notice and return it to our registrars as soon as possible. They must receive it by 12:00 p.m. on Friday 8 May 2015.
The Board considers that all the resolutions to be put to the meeting are in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole. Your Board will be voting in favour of them and unanimously recommends that you do so as well.
Yours sincerely,
Sir David Naish DL Non-Executive Chairman
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the eighth Annual General Meeting of Hilton Food Group plc (the "Company") will be held at The Old Bridge Hotel, 1High Street, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 3TQ on Tuesday 12 May 2015 at 12:00 p.m. for the following purposes.
As ordinary business of an Annual General Meeting to consider and, if thought fit, pass the following ordinary resolutions:
As special business of an annual general meeting to consider and, if thought fit, pass resolution 7 as an ordinary resolution and resolutions 8 to 10 as specialresolutions.
(a) allot shares in the Company and grant rights to subscribe for or convert any security into shares in the Company up to an aggregate nominal amount of £2,419,614; and
(b) allot equity securities (as defined in section 560 of the Act) up to an aggregate nominal amount of £4,839,229 (such amount to be reduced by the nominal amount of any shares allotted or rights granted under paragraph (a) of this resolution 7) in connection with an offer by way of a rights issue to:
(i) the holders of Ordinary Shares in the Company in proportion (as nearly as may be practicable) to the respective numbers of Ordinary Shares held by them; and
(ii) holders of other equity securities, as required by the rights of those securities or, subject to such rights, as the Directors of the Company otherwise consider necessary,
and so that the Directors of the Company may impose any limits or restrictions and make any arrangements which they consider necessary or appropriate to deal with treasury shares, fractional entitlements, record dates, legal, regulatory or practical problems in, or under the laws of, any territory or any other matter.
These authorities shall apply in substitution for all previous authorities (but without prejudice to the validity of any allotment pursuant to such previous authority) and shall expire at the end of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company or, if earlier, 15 months after the date of this resolution, save that the Company may before such expiry make any offer or agreement which would or might require shares to be allotted or rights granted to subscribe for or convert any security into shares after such expiry and the Directors may allot shares or grant such rights in pursuance of any such offer or agreement as if the power and authority conferred by this resolution had not expired.
(b) where the allotment constitutes an allotment by virtue of section 560(3) of the Act,
in each case as if section 561 of the Act did not apply to any such allotment, provided that this power shall be limited to:
and so that the Directors of the Company may impose any limits or restrictions and make any arrangements which it considers necessary or appropriate to deal with treasury shares, fractional entitlements, record dates, legal, regulatory or practical problems in, or under the laws of, any territory or any other matter;
(ii) the grant of options to subscribe for shares in the Company, and the allotment of such shares pursuant to the exercise of options granted, under the terms of any share option scheme adopted or operated by the Company; and
(iii)the allotment of equity securities, other than pursuant to paragraphs (i) and (ii) above of this resolution, up to an aggregate nominal amount of £362,942.
This power shall (unless previously renewed, varied or revoked by the Company in general meeting) expire at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company following the passing of this resolution or, if earlier, on the date 15 months after the passing of such resolution, save that the Company may before the expiry of this power make any offer or enter into any agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted, or treasury shares sold, after such expiry and the Directors may allot equity securities or sell treasury shares in pursuance of any such offer or agreement as if the power conferred by this resolution had not expired.
(a) the maximum number of Ordinary Shares which may be purchased is 7,258,843;
this authority shall take effect on the date of passing of this resolution and shall (unless previously revoked, renewed or varied) expire on the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company after the passing of this resolution or, if earlier, 15 months after the date of passing of this resolution, save in relation to purchases of Ordinary Shares the contract for which was concluded before the expiry of this authority and which will or may be executed wholly or partly after such expiry.
By order of the Board
Neil George Company Secretary 10 April 2015
Registered Office: 2-8 Interchange Latham Road Huntingdon Cambridgeshire PE29 6YE
Registered in England and Wales No.6165540
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Notes:
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You may not use any fax number or email address or other electronic address provided in this notice to communicate with the Company for any purpose other than expressly stated.
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The notes on the following pages give an explanation of the proposed resolutions.
Resolutions 1 to 7 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 8 to 10 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 of the resolution.
The Directors of the Company must present the financial statements to the meeting.
In line with legislation, this vote will be advisory. You can find the Directors' remuneration report on pages 43 to 52 of the Company's Annual report and financialstatements.
The Company's Articles of Association require that all Directors retire at least every three years and that all newly appointed Directors retire at the first AnnualGeneral Meeting following their appointment. Furthermore in line with the UK Corporate Governance Code, it is the Company's practice that any Non-Executive Director having been in post for nine years or more is subject to annual re-election.
At this meeting Sir David Naish and Mr Philip Heffer will retire and stand for re-election as Directors. Short biographies of these Directors are given below and in the accompanying report. Having considered the performance of and contribution made by each of the Directors standing for re-election the Board remains satisfied that the performance of each of the relevant Directors continues to be effective and to demonstrate commitment to the role and, as such, recommends their re-election.
Sir David joined the Hilton Food Group in 2007 as a Non-Executive Director after retiring from the Chairmanship of Arla Foods UK plc and was elected Chairman in 2010. He is a past President of the National Farmers Union and is currently Chairman of his family farming business as well as a Director of Wilson Insurance Broking Group Limited and Caunton Engineering Limited and is also a Non-Executive Director of Produce Investments plc. Sir David is Chairman of the Nomination Committee.
Philip joined the Hilton Food Group at its inception in 1994 as Managing Director of the Group's UK subsidiary Hilton Foods UK Limited. In his current role he is responsible for Hilton's business with its major customer in the UK and Ireland. Prior to this, Philip held senior positions within the RWM Food Group. He attended Smithfield College and became an associate member of the Institute of Meat in 1984.
Resolution 5 proposes the reappointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors of the Company and authorises the Directors to set their remuneration.
A final dividend can only be paid after the shareholders at a general meeting have approved it. A final dividend of 9.5p per Ordinary Share is recommended by theDirectors for payment to shareholders who are on the register of members at the close of business on 29 May 2015. If approved, the date of payment of the final dividend will be 26 June 2015.
The purpose of resolution 7 is to renew the Directors' authority to allot shares.
The authority in paragraph (a) will allow the Directors to allot new shares in the Company or to grant rights to subscribe for or convert any security into shares in the Company up to a nominal value of £2,419,614 (so 24,196,140 shares in the Company of 10p each), which is equivalent to approximately one-third (33.33%) of the total issued Ordinary Share capital of the Company as at the date of this notice. There is no present intention of exercising this general authority.
The authority in paragraph (b) will allow the Directors to allot new shares or to grant rights to subscribe for or convert any security into shares in the Company only in connection with a pre-emptive rights issue up to an aggregate nominal value of £4,839,229 (so 48,393,390 shares in the Company of 10p each), which is equivalent to approximately two-thirds (66.67%) of the Company's issued share capital as the date of this notice (inclusive of the nominal value of £2,419,614 sought under paragraph (a) of the resolution). This is in line with corporate governance guidelines. There is no present intention to exercise this authority.
As at the date of this notice the Company did not hold any shares in treasury.
If the resolution is passed, the authority will expire on the earlier of 12 August 2016 (the date which is 15 months after the date of the resolution) and the end of next Annual General Meeting of the Company in 2016.
If the Directors wish to allot new shares or grant rights over shares or sell treasury shares for cash (other than pursuant to an employee share scheme) company law requires that these shares are first offered to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing holdings. There may be occasions, however, when the Directors will need the flexibility to finance business opportunities by the issue of Ordinary Shares without a pre-emptive offer to existing shareholders. This cannot be done unless the shareholders have first waived their pre-emption rights.
Resolution 8 asks the shareholders to do this and, apart from rights issues or any other pre-emptive offer concerning equity securities or the grant of share options, the authority will be limited to the issue of shares for cash up to a maximum number of 3,629,420 (which includes the sale on a non pre-emptive basis of any shares held in treasury), which is equivalent to approximately 5% of the Company's issued Ordinary Share capital as at the date of this notice. TheCompany undertakes to restrict its use of this authority to a maximum of 7.5% of the Company's issued Ordinary Share capital in any three-year period. Shareholders will note that this resolution also relates to treasury shares and will be proposed as a special resolution.
This resolution seeks a disapplication of the pre-emption rights on a rights issue so as to allow the Directors to make exclusions or such other arrangements as may be appropriate to resolve legal or practical problems which, for example, might arise with overseas shareholders. If given, the authority will expire at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company in 2016 or, if earlier, 12 August 2016 (the date which is 15 months after the passing of the resolution).
In certain circumstances, it may be advantageous for the Company to purchase its own shares and resolution 9 seeks the authority from shareholders to continue to do so. The Directors will continue to exercise this power only when, in the light of market conditions prevailing at the time, they believe that the effect of such purchases will be to increase earnings per share and is in the best interests of shareholders generally. Other investment opportunities, appropriate gearing levels and the overall position of the Company will be taken into account when exercising this authority.
Any shares purchased in this way will be cancelled and the number of shares in issue will be reduced accordingly, save that the Company may hold in treasury any of its own shares that it purchases pursuant to the Act and the authority conferred by this resolution. This gives the Company the ability to re-issue treasury shares quickly and cost-effectively and provides the Company with greater flexibility in the management of its capital base. It also gives the Company the opportunity to satisfy employee share scheme awards with treasury shares. Once held in treasury, the Company is not entitled to exercise any rights, including the right to attend and vote at meetings in respect of the shares. Further, no dividend or other distribution of the Company's assets may be made to the Company in respect of the treasury shares.
The resolution specifies the maximum number of Ordinary Shares that may be acquired (approximately 10% of the Company's issued Ordinary Share capital as at the date of this notice) and the maximum and minimum prices at which they may be bought.
As at the date of this notice there are no warrants, and there are options over 3,989,463 shares in the capital of the Company, representing approximately 5.5% of the Company's issued ordinary share capital as at the date of this notice. If the authority to purchase the Company's ordinary shares was exercised in full, these options would represent approximately 5.0% of the Company's issued ordinary share capital as at the date of this notice.
Resolution 9 will be proposed as a special resolution to provide the Company with the necessary authority. If given, this authority will expire at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company in 2016 or, if earlier, 12 August 2016 (the date which is 15 months after the date of passing of the resolution).
The Directors intend to seek renewal of this power at subsequent Annual General Meetings.
The Companies (Shareholder Rights) Regulations 2009 (which implemented the EU Shareholder Rights Directive with effect from 3 August 2009) increased the notice period for general meetings (other than Annual General Meetings) of listed companies, such as the Company, to 21 days from 14 days, unless certain conditions are met.
A shareholder resolution reducing the period of notice to not less than 14 clear days must be passed at an immediately preceding AGM to ensure that the general meetings of the Company (other than AGMs) may continue to be held on 14 clear days' notice. The approval will be effective until the Company's next Annual General Meeting, when it is intended that a similar resolution will be proposed. Note that in order to be able to call a general meeting on less than 21 clear days' notice, the Company must make a means of electronic voting available to all shareholders for that meeting. It is intended that this flexibility will only be used for non-routine business and where merited in the interests of shareholders as a whole.
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