AGM Information • Jan 16, 2024
AGM Information
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THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in doubt as to what action you should take, you are recommended to seek your own financial advice immediately from your stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other professional adviser authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 if you are in the United Kingdom, or if you are outside the United Kingdom, from another appropriately authorised independent adviser.
If you have sold or transferred all of your registered holding of ordinary shares in the Company please forward this document, together with the accompanying Form of Proxy, as soon as possible to the purchaser or transferee or to the stockbroker, bank manager or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was effected for delivery to the purchaser or transferee.
(Registered in England and Wales with no. 04115910)
Notice of the Annual General Meeting (the "AGM") of Benchmark Holdings plc (the "Company") to be held at Travers Smith LLP, 10 Snow Hill, London EC1A 2AL at 12.00 midday (UK time) on 8 February 2024 is set out at the end of this document and the recommendation of the Directors is set out on page 5.
Unless otherwise stated, all references to times in this document are to London time.
(Registered in England and Wales with no. 04115910) Registered Office Highdown House Yeoman Way Worthing West Sussex BN99 3HH

9 January 2024
Trond Williksen Septima Maguire Kristian Eikre* Peter George* Yngve Myhre* Torgeir Svae* Marie Danielsson* Jonathan Esfandi* *Non-executive Directors
To holders of Ordinary Shares of £0.001 each in the Company
This letter accompanies the 2023 Annual Report and gives details of the business to be transacted at the 2024 AGM of the Company.
Notice of the Annual General Meeting is given on page 6.
Resolutions 1 to 13 will be proposed as ordinary resolutions and resolutions 14 to 16 will be proposed as special resolutions.
Company law requires the Directors to present to the Annual General Meeting the Annual Accounts, the Directors' Report and the Auditors' Report on these accounts.
Whilst AIM traded companies are not required by company law to present a Directors' Remuneration Report to their shareholders for a vote, your Board has decided that the Directors' Remuneration Report for the year ended 30 September 2023 should be subject to a shareholder vote. The Directors' Remuneration Report appears on pages 96-103 of the 2023 Annual Report, which is also available on the Company's website at www.benchmarkplc.com. This shareholder vote is advisory only and therefore does not directly affect the remuneration paid to any Director.
Company law requires the Company to appoint auditors at each Annual General Meeting at which accounts are presented, to hold office until the conclusion of the next such meeting. The Board proposes the reappointment of KPMG LLP as auditors of the Company for the year ended 30 September 2024 (Resolution 3). Resolution 4 authorises the Directors, in accordance with standard practice, to negotiate and agree the remuneration of the auditors. In practice, the Audit Committee will consider the audit fees for recommendation to the Board.
The articles of association of the Company (the "Articles") require that each Director shall be subject to annual re-election in accordance with the 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code. The Articles also provide that the Board has the power to appoint any person to be a Director, and that any Director appointed by the Board shall only hold office until the next following AGM.
The Board, on the recommendation of the Nomination Committee, supports the election of Torgeir Svae, Marie Danielsson and Jonathan Esfandi who were appointed as Directors by the Board on 17 April 2023, 30 June 2023 and 29 November 2023 respectively, and so have not been subject to a vote by shareholders.
Mr Svae is an Investment Director at Kverva AS responsible for the seafood portfolio. Mr. Svae will act as shareholder representative of Kverva, a significant shareholder of the Company, and therefore the Board has concluded that he is not an independent director.
Ms. Danielsson is CFO of BEWi ASA, a leading provider of packaging, component and insulation solutions, listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, and has extensive industrial and financial experience.
Mr Esfandi is the founder and managing partner at JNE Partners LLP. He will act as shareholder representative of JNE Partners LLP, a significant shareholder of the Company , and therefore the Board has concluded that he is not an independent director.
All Directors standing for re-election were all last elected at the AGM of the Company held in 2023. Accordingly, all such Directors are required under the Articles to stand for re-election at the 2024 AGM. Resolutions 5 to 12 inclusive therefore propose the election of Torgeir Svae, Marie Danielsson and Jonathan Esfandi, and the re-election of all the other Directors.
The Directors believe that the Board offers an appropriate balance of knowledge and skills and that all the non-executive Directors (with the exception of Torgeir Svae, Jonathan Esfandi and Kristian Eikre) are independent in character and judgement. Kristian Eikre is not deemed to be independent due to his relationship with FERD AS (the Company's largest shareholder as at the date of this document). Torgeir Svae acts as shareholder representative of Kverva AS, a significant shareholder in the Company, and Jonathan Esfandi acts as shareholder representative of JNE, a significant shareholder of the Company, and therefore the Board has concluded that they are not independent directors of the Company. The Nomination Committee, which considers the balance of the Board and the mix of skills, knowledge and experience of its members, has considered and recommends the appointment of all of the Directors of the Company standing for election and re-election.
Brief biographies of the Directors outlining their skills, contribution and experience are available on the Company's website at: www.benchmarkplc.com/investors/the-board.
This resolution asks shareholders to grant the Directors authority under section 551 of the Companies Act 2006 (the "Act") to allot shares or grant such subscription or conversion rights as are contemplated by sections 551(1)(a) and (b) respectively of the Act up to a maximum aggregate nominal value of £492,901.58, being approximately two thirds of the nominal value of the issued share capital of the Company as at 5 January 2024 (being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this document). £246,450.79 of this authority is reserved only for a fully pre-emptive offer.
This is the maximum permitted amount under best practice corporate governance guidelines. The authority will expire at the next Annual General Meeting, or if earlier, the date falling 15 months after passing of the resolution. The Directors consider it important to have the maximum ability and flexibility commensurate with good corporate governance guidelines to raise finance to enable the Company to respond to market development and conditions.
If the Directors wish to allot new shares or other equity securities for cash, the Act requires that such shares or other equity securities are offered first to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing holding. The allotment of equity securities as referred to in Resolutions 14 and 15 includes the sale of any shares which the Company holds in treasury following a purchase of its own shares.
Although the Pre-Emption Group's Statement of Principles on Disapplying Pre-Emption Rights published in November 2022 (the "Statement of Principles") allows the Company to disapply higher percentages, due to the significant votes against these resolutions at the 2023 annual general meeting and in light of feedback received by the Directors following consultation with major shareholders, the Company is proposing separate resolutions to disapply pre-emption rights up to 5 per cent. of the Company's relevant issued ordinary share capital and to disapply pre-emption rights up to an additional 5 per cent. of the Company's relevant issued ordinary share capital for acquisitions or other capital investments as defined by the Statement of Principles. These percentages are in line with what has been approved by shareholders in the years prior to the 2023 annual general meeting of the Company. The Company is not seeking any authority for follow-on offers.
Resolution 14 asks shareholders to grant the Directors authority to allot equity securities for cash up to an aggregate nominal value of £36,967.61, being approximately 5 per cent. of the nominal value of the issued share capital of the Company as at 5 January 2024 (being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this document), without first offering the securities to existing shareholders. Resolution 14 also disapplies the statutory pre-emption provisions in connection with a fully pre-emptive offer only in relation to the amount permitted under Resolution 13.2 allowing the Directors to make appropriate arrangements in relation to fractional entitlements or other legal or practical problems which might arise.
Resolution 15 asks shareholders to grant the Directors an additional authority to allot equity securities for cash up an aggregate nominal value of £36,967.61, being approximately 5 per cent. of the nominal value of the issued share capital of the Company as at 5 January 2024 (being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this document), for the purposes of financing or refinancing an acquisition or other capital investment of a kind contemplated by the Statement of Principles.
The Directors confirm that, in considering the exercise of the authority under Resolutions 14 and 15, they intend to follow the shareholder protections set out in Part 2B of the Pre-emption Group's Statement of Principles to the extent reasonably practicable and relevant (as the Company is not seeking authority for follow-on offers).
The authorities in resolutions 14 and 15 will expire at the next Annual General Meeting, or if earlier, the date falling 15 months after passing of the resolutions.
Resolution 16 seeks authority from shareholders for the Company to make market purchases of its own ordinary shares, such authority being limited to the purchase of up to 73,935,239 ordinary shares (being approximately 10 per cent. of the Company's issued ordinary share capital as at 5 January 2024 (being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this document)). The maximum and minimum prices payable are also limited in the resolution.
The Directors have no present intention of exercising the authority to purchase the Company's ordinary shares but will keep the matter under review, taking into account the financial resources of the Company, the Company's share price and future funding opportunities. The authority will only be exercised if the Directors consider that there is likely to be a beneficial impact on earnings per ordinary share and that it is in the best interests of the Company, and its shareholders generally, at the time. The Company will be able to hold the ordinary shares which have been repurchased as treasury shares and re-sell them for cash, cancel them or use them for the purposes of its employee share schemes.
Options and warrants to subscribe for up to 50,229,136 ordinary shares have been granted and are outstanding as at 5 January 2024 (being the latest practicable date prior to publication of this document) representing 6.79 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital at that date. If the Directors were to exercise in full the power for which they are seeking authority under Resolution 16, the options outstanding as at 5 January 2024 (being the latest practicable date prior to the publication of this document) would represent 7.55 per cent. of the ordinary share capital (excluding any shares held in treasury) in issue following such exercise.
If you are a registered shareholder, you are asked to:
Completion of the Form of Proxy or appointment of a proxy electronically or through CREST will not prevent a member from attending the Annual General Meeting in person.
CREST members who wish to appoint a proxy or proxies by utilising the CREST electronic proxy appointment service may do so for the Annual General Meeting and any adjournment(s) thereof by utilising the procedures described in the CREST Manual which can be found 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 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's specifications and must contain the information required for such instructions, as described in the CREST Manual. The message must be transmitted so as to be received by the issuer's agent, ID RA19, by 12.00 midday (UK time) on 6 February 2024. 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.
CREST members and, where applicable, their CREST sponsors or voting service providers should note that Euroclear UK & International 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 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 (as amended).
If you are an institutional investor you 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 12.00 midday (UK time) on 6 February 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 you are a holder of the beneficial interest in ordinary shares registered in the name of Euroclear Nominees as custodian for DNB Bank ASA ("DNB") and held by DNB as nominee in The Norwegian Central Securities Depository (Euronext Securities Oslo), a DNB Proxy Form is enclosed which allows you to instruct DNB to instruct Euroclear Nominees either to appoint the Chairman of the AGM as its proxy to vote your ordinary shares at the AGM or alternatively to appoint you (or a third party nominated by you) to attend, speak and vote at the AGM. To be valid, a DNB Proxy Form must be received by DNB via e-mail in PDF format to [email protected] (noting "Benchmark AGM" in the subject) or post to DNB Bank ASA, Registrars Department, P.O. Box 1600 Sentrum, 0021 Oslo as soon as possible and, in any event, by no later than 11.00 a.m. (UK time) (12.00 midday Central European time) on 30 January 2024.
The Annual General Meeting will be held at the offices of Travers Smith LLP, 10 Snow Hill, London EC1A 2AL.
The Board is conscious that some shareholders may not be able to attend the Annual General Meeting. In order to facilitate shareholder engagement, if you are unable to attend but would like to ask the Board a question on the business of the Annual General Meeting, please submit your questions by email to [email protected], so as to arrive by 12.00 midday (UK time) on 6 February 2024. The Board will attempt to reply to any emails as soon as reasonably practicable. Responses will be made via return email or published on our investors' website at www.benchmarkplc.com/investors/, as deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors.
The Company actively encourages all shareholders to register for electronic communications to enable it to reduce the paper used when communicating with shareholders.
The Board believes that the resolutions to be put to the Annual General Meeting are in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole and, accordingly, recommends that the shareholders vote in favour of the resolutions, as the Directors intend to do in respect of their beneficial shareholdings in the Company.
Yours sincerely
Peter George Chairman
NOTICE is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of Benchmark Holdings plc (the "Company") will be held at the offices of Travers Smith LLP, 10 Snow Hill, London, EC1A 2AL at 12.00 midday on 8 February 2024 for the transaction of the following business:
To consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following resolutions, numbers 1 to 13 of which will be proposed as ordinary resolutions and numbers 14 to 16 of which will be proposed as special resolutions:
and this power, unless renewed, shall expire at the end of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company, or if earlier, the date falling 15 months after passing of this resolution, but shall extend to the making, before such expiry, of an offer or agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted after such expiry and the Directors may allot equity securities in pursuance of such offer or agreement as if the authority conferred hereby had not expired.
and this power, unless renewed, shall expire at the end of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company, or if earlier, the date falling 15 months after passing of this resolution, but shall extend to the making, before such expiry, of an offer or agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted after such expiry and the Directors may allot equity securities in pursuance of such offer or agreement as if the authority conferred hereby had not expired.
BY ORDER OF THE BOARD
Company Secretary Date: 9 January 2024 Registered Office: Highdown House, Yeoman Way, Worthing, West Sussex BN99 3HH
Completion of the Form of Proxy or the appointment of a proxy electronically or through CREST will not prevent a member from attending and voting in person.
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