AGM Information • May 24, 2018
AGM Information
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If you are in any doubt as to the action you should take, you should seek your own personal financial advice from your stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant, or other financial adviser who, if you are taking advice in the United Kingdom, is authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 or an appropriately authorised independent financial adviser if you are in a territory outside the United Kingdom.
If you have sold or otherwise transferred all your ordinary shares in Capita plc, please deliver this document, together with the accompanying documents, as soon as possible to the purchaser or transferee, or to the stockbroker, bank or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was effected.
Notice is hereby given that the 2018 Annual General Meeting of Capita plc (the 'Company') will be held at Linklaters LLP, One Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8HQ on Tuesday 26 June 2018 at 11.00am to transact the business set out below.
A form of proxy (the 'Form of Proxy') for use at the Annual General Meeting is enclosed and, to be valid, should be completed and returned in accordance with the instructions printed on the form so as to be received by the Company's registrars, Link Asset Services at the following address: Link Asset Services, Proxy Department at The Registry, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4TU as soon as possible but, in any event, so as to arrive no later than so as to be received by 11.00am on Friday 22 June 2018 or, if the meeting is adjourned, 48 hours, excluding non-business days, before the time fixed for the adjourned meeting (as the case may be). Alternatively, a member may appoint a proxy online by following the instructions for the electronic appointment of a proxy at www.capitashares.co.uk. Completion and return of a Form of Proxy will not prevent members from attending and voting in person should they wish to do so.
Resolutions 1 to 13 (inclusive) will be proposed as ordinary resolutions. For each of these Resolutions to be passed, more than half of the votes cast must be in favour of the Resolution.
Resolutions 14 to 16 (inclusive) will be proposed as special resolutions. For each of these Resolutions to be passed, at least three quarters of the votes cast must be in favour of the Resolution.
Authority to allot shares
Authority to disapply pre-emption rights
as if Section 561 of that Act did not apply to any such allotment, and such authority shall (unless otherwise revoked or renewed), expire at the close of business on 30 June 2019 or, if earlier, on the conclusion of the Company's next Annual General Meeting, save that the Company may make any offer or agreement before such expiry which would or might require shares to be allotted or Allotment Rights to be granted after such expiry and the Directors may allot shares or grant Allotment Rights under any such offer or agreement as if the authority had not expired.
For the purposes of this Resolution, the nominal amount of any securities shall be taken to be, in the case Allotment Rights, the nominal amount of such shares which may be allotted pursuant to such rights.
For the purposes of this Resolution, 'pre-emptive offer' means an offer of equity securities that is open for acceptance for a period determined by the Directors to the holders of ordinary shares in the Company (other than the Company) on the register on any fixed record date in proportion to their holdings of ordinary shares (and, if applicable, to the holders of any other class of equity security in accordance with the rights attached to such class), subject in each case to such exclusions or other arrangements as the Directors may deem necessary or appropriate in relation to fractions of such securities, the use of more than one currency for making payments in respect of such offer, any such shares or other securities being represented by depositary receipts, treasury shares, any legal or practical problems in relation to any territory or the requirements of any regulatory body or any stock exchange.
Registered Office: 71 Victoria Street Westminster London SW1H 0XA
Registered in England No: 2081330
By Order of the Board
Francesca Todd
Group Company Secretary Dated: 23 May 2018
(5) Any person to whom this notice is sent who is currently nominated by a member of the Company to enjoy information rights under section 146 of the Companies Act 2006 (a 'nominated person') may have a right under an agreement between him/her and that member to be appointed, or to have someone else appointed, as a proxy for the meeting. If a nominated person has no such right or does not wish to exercise it, he/she may have a right under such an agreement to give instructions to the member concerned as to the exercise of voting rights. The statement in note 1 above of the rights of a member in relation to the appointment of proxies does not apply to a nominated person. Such rights can only be exercised by the member concerned.
(6) As at 25 May 2018 (assuming the completion of the Rights Issue launched by the Company on 23 April 2018) (i) the Company's issued share capital is expected to consist of 1,668,387,135 ordinary shares, carrying one vote each, excluding 2,886,388 shares held in Treasury and (ii) the total voting rights in the Company are expected to be 1,668,387,135.
(14) Please note the Company takes all reasonable precautions to ensure that no viruses are present in any electronic communication it sends out but the Company cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage arising from the opening or use of any email or attachments from the Company and recommends that the members subject all messages to virus checking procedures prior to use. Any electronic communication received by the Company, including the lodgement of an electronic proxy form, that is found to contain any virus will not be accepted.
(15) In accordance with the Company's established practice, all of the Resolutions will be voted on by a poll and not by a show of hands so as to record accurately the decision of all members based on their shareholding interests in the Company. Members and proxies will be asked to complete a poll card to indicate how they wish to cast their votes. These cards will be collected at the end of the meeting. The results of the poll will be published on the Company's website and notified to the UK Listing Authority once the votes have been counted and verified.
(16) Copies of the service contracts of the Executive Directors and the Non-Executive Directors' letters of appointment are available for inspection at the Company's registered office during normal business hours and at the place of the meeting from at least 15 minutes prior to the meeting until the end of the meeting.
For each financial year, the Directors are required to present the Directors' reports, the audited financial statements and the Auditor's reports to shareholders at a general meeting. The financial statements and reports laid before the 2018 AGM are for the financial year ending 31 December 2017 and, in accordance with the UK Corporate Governance Code, the Company proposes a resolution on its financial statements and reports.
In accordance with the Companies Act 2006, shareholders are invited to approve the Directors' Remuneration Report for the financial year ended 31 December 2017.
The Directors' Remuneration Report is set out on pages 75 to 89 of the Annual Report and Accounts 2017. For the purposes of this resolution, the Directors' Remuneration Report does not include the Directors' Remuneration Policy which is set out on pages 76 to 82. The vote on this resolution is advisory only and the Directors' entitlement to remuneration is not conditional on its being passed.
Resolutions 3 to 10 relate to the retirement and election or re-election of the Directors. The Company's articles of association require a Director who was appointed as such by the Board during the year to retire at the annual general meeting next following his or her appointment. Jonathan Lewis and Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe were each appointed as Directors since the date of the Company's last annual general meeting. Consequently, each will retire from office at the AGM and intends to stand for election by the shareholders for the first time.
The Company's articles of association also require any Director who has not been elected or re-elected by the Company's shareholders at either of the two previous annual general meetings to retire. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Company's articles of association, the Board has determined that each of the remaining Directors shall retire from office at the AGM in line with best practice recommendations of the UK Corporate Governance Code for FTSE 350 companies. Each of the Directors intends to stand for re-election by the shareholders.
Brief biographical details of all of the Directors seeking election or re-election can be found at Appendix 1 to this Notice. All were subject to appraisal by the other Board members prior to being put forward for election or re-election (as applicable) by shareholders. The Board has concluded that all of the Directors continue to be effective, showing commitment to their roles, and making the necessary time available for Board and Committee meetings and other duties as required.
The Company is required to appoint an Auditor to serve for each financial year of the Company. The appointment must be made before the end of the general meeting before which accounts are laid. KPMG LLP have indicated that they are willing to continue as the Company's Auditor for another year. Resolution 11 is, therefore, to appoint KPMG LLP as Auditor for the financial year ending 31 December 2018. As a separate resolution, Resolution 12 authorises the Audit and Risk Committee to determine the Auditor's remuneration.
The Directors are currently authorised to allot shares in the Company or grant rights to subscribe for or convert any securities into shares, but their authorisation ends on the date of the Annual General Meeting. This resolution seeks to renew the Directors' allotment authority.
If passed, this resolution will give the Directors the authority to allot shares or grant rights to subscribe for or convert any securities into shares up to an aggregate nominal value equal to £11,493,334. This represents approximately 33% of the total ordinary share capital in issue (excluding treasury shares) as at 25 May 2018 (assuming the completion of the Rights Issue launched by the Company on 23 April 2018 (Rights Issue)).
The renewed authority will remain in force until 30 June 2019 or, if earlier, the conclusion of the Company's next Annual General Meeting. As at 21 May 2018, the Company held 2,886,388 treasury shares, being approximately 0.17% of the expected total ordinary share capital in issue as at 25 May 2018 (exclusive of treasury shares and assuming completion of the Rights Issue).
The Directors have no present intention of exercising this authority. However, by granting this authority, the Directors will have the flexibility to take advantage of any appropriate opportunities that may arise.
Resolution 14 is a special resolution which, if passed by shareholders, will enable the Directors to allot ordinary shares in the Company, or to sell any shares out of treasury, for cash, without first offering those shares to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing holdings.
The Pre-Emption Group's Statement of Principles supports the annual disapplication of pre-emption rights in respect of allotments of shares and other equity securities and sales of treasury shares for cash representing no more than 5 per cent of issued ordinary share capital (exclusive of treasury shares), without restriction as to the use of proceeds of those allotments.
Accordingly, the purpose of Resolution 14 is to authorise the Directors to allot new shares (and other equity securities) pursuant to the allotment authority given by Resolution 13, for cash up to a nominal amount of £1,724,000 without the shares first being offered to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing holdings. This amount represents approximately 5% of the Company's expected issued ordinary share capital (excluding treasury shares) as at 25 May 2018 (assuming the completion of the Rights Issue ).
The Directors confirm their intention to follow the provisions of the Pre-Emption Group's Statement of Principles and not to allot shares or other equity securities or sell treasury shares for cash on a non-pre-emptive basis pursuant to the authority in Resolution 14 in excess of an amount equal to 7.5 per cent of the total issued ordinary share capital of the Company, excluding treasury shares, within a rolling three-year period, other than:
The authority sought under Resolution 14 will remain in force until 30 June 2019 or, if earlier, the conclusion of the Company's next Annual General Meeting.
The Companies Act 2006 requires the notice period for general meetings of the Company to be at least 21 days. The Company, however, currently has the power to call general meetings (other than an AGM) on at least 14 clear days' notice and would like to preserve this ability. In order to be able to do so, shareholders must approve the calling of meetings on at least 14 clear days' notice. Resolution 15, which will be proposed as a special resolution, seeks such approval. The approval will be effective until the Company's next Annual General Meeting, when it is intended that a similar resolution will be proposed.
The shorter notice period would not be used as a matter of routine for general meetings, but only where the flexibility is merited by the business of the meeting and is thought to be to the advantage of shareholders as a whole. The Company notes the notice period provision in the UK Corporate Governance Code which recommends at least 14 working days' notice be given for all general meetings (other than annual general meetings). Insofar as it is appropriate to do so, the Company intends to comply with this provision in the same way that it currently complies with the 20 working days' notice provision applicable to annual general meetings.
Resolution 16, which will be proposed as a special resolution, is to renew the authority granted to the Directors at last year's Annual General Meeting, which expires on the date of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting, and to give the Company authority to buy back its own ordinary shares in the market as permitted by the Companies Act 2006.
The authority limits the number of ordinary shares that could be purchased to a maximum of 166,838,714 shares, which represents approximately 10% of the expected issued ordinary share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) as at 25 May 2018 (assuming completion of the Rights Issue). The authority also sets minimum and maximum prices at which shares may be bought. The renewed authority will, if passed, remain in force until 30 June 2019 or, if earlier, until the conclusion of the Company's next Annual General Meeting.
The total number of options to subscribe for ordinary shares for all executive and employee share schemes of the Company which were outstanding as at 21 May 2018 (being the latest practicable date prior to the printing of this document) was 19,109,220 which represents 1.15% of the expected issued share capital of the Company as at 25 May 2018 (excluding treasury shares and assuming completion of the Rights Issue), and would represent 1.27% of the issued share capital of the Company as at 25 May 2018 (excluding treasury shares and assuming the completion of the Rights Issue) if the full authority to repurchase ordinary shares, as proposed by Resolution 16, were exercised. As at 21 May 2018, the Company held 2,886,388 treasury shares, being approximately 0.17% of the expected total ordinary share capital in issue as at 25 May 2018 (excluding treasury shares and assuming the completion of the Rights Issue).
Any ordinary shares purchased under this authority would be by means of market purchases through the London Stock Exchange. Shares so purchased would be held as treasury shares or cancelled and the number of ordinary shares in issue reduced accordingly. 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 other investment opportunities. The authority to repurchase ordinary shares will, if approved by shareholders, only be exercised after careful consideration by the Directors, and if such an exercise would result in an increase in earnings per share and would be in the best interests of shareholders generally.
The Board considers that the passing of all the resolutions set out in the notice of Annual General Meeting is likely to promote the success of the Company and would be in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole. The Directors unanimously recommend that you vote in favour of the resolutions, as they intend to do in respect of their own beneficial holdings (save in respect of those resolutions in which they are interested).
Date appointed to Board: September 2016 (appointed as Chairman on 1 January 2017) Independent at appointment: Yes Key skills and experience:
Chartered Accountant; Previously Chairman and Senior Partner of PwC UK between 2008 and 2016 responsible for expertise management and board chairmanship of PwC UK; Up to 2008 served in various roles of increasing responsibility in PwC including Head of Advisory.
Chairman – Police Now; Trustee – The Old Vic; Trustee – Wellbeing of Women; Member of the Development Committee – The National Gallery. Committee memberships: Nomination (Chair).
Chief Executive Officer Joined Capita: 2017 Date appointed to Board: December 2017 Key skills and experience:
Previously Chief Executive Officer at Amec Foster Wheeler; Prior to that had a 20-year career at Halliburton Company Inc, including senior roles as Senior Vice President and member of the Halliburton Executive Committee.
Managing and developing Capita's business to achieve the Company's strategic objectives. Other external appointments:
None.
Chief Financial Officer Joined Capita: 2006 Date appointed to Board: March 2015 Board responsibilities: Overall control and responsibility for all financial
aspects of the business's strategy.
Mergers & Acquisitions strategy; Property; Environment; Procurement; Commercial relationships; Supplier relationships, Investor Relations; Transformation Plan.
Interim CEO during autumn 2017; Executive Director for Life & Pensions, Insurance & Benefits Services; Commercial Director on major bids and contract implementations.
Other external appointments: None.
Senior Independent Director Date appointed to Board: September 2012 (appointed Senior Independent Director on 1 January 2013)
Key skills and experience:
Senior adviser in Credit Suisse's investment baking division where she has gained substantial experience of advising boards across a wide range of complex situations and transactions; previously worked at NM Rothschild & Sons for seven years.
Senior banker at Credit Suisse; Trustee of BBC Children in Need; Member of Corporate Advisory Board of Royal Academy.
Audit and Risk; Nomination; Remuneration.
Non-Executive Director Date appointed to Board: March 2017 Independent: Yes
Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of experience in senior finance roles; previously Group Chief Financial Officer at Royal Mail plc, Group Chief Financial Officer at ICAP plc, Group Financial Controller and Group Treasurer at Diageo plc.
Non-Executive Director of Man Group PLC and Barclays plc.
Audit and Risk (Chair from 1 June 2017); Nomination; Remuneration.
Non-Executive Director Date appointed to Board: November 2015 Independent: Yes
Chartered Accountant with substantial experience leading, growing and advising media and broadcast organisations at CEO and executive director level and has worked in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications sector for 25 years; previously served four-and-a-half years as CEO at Arqiva and held executive director roles at ITV plc.
Director of Bibby Line Group Limited – will take over as CEO in summer 2018.
Audit and Risk; Nomination; Remuneration (Chair).
Non-Executive Director Date appointed to Board: January 2015 Independent: Yes
Chartered Engineer; Chief Executive of Halma plc, a leading specialist safety, health and environmental technologies and FTSE 100 company; previously held wide range of senior management positions across Halma.
Chief Executive of Halma plc since 2005. Committee memberships: Audit and Risk; Nomination, Remuneration.
Date appointed to Board: December 2017 Independent: Yes
International retail; governance, legal and regulatory issues; communications. Member of the House of Lords since 2013. Served as government Minister 2014-17: Commercial Secretary to the Treasury; Minister of State and Minister of State for Energy and Intellectual Property; and Parliamentary Under Secretary in the departments for Business, Innovation & Skills and Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Private sector career in Tesco 1997-2013 and from 2006 member of Board of Tesco plc as Executive Director, Corporate & Legal Affairs. Non-executive directorships included ITV plc and Metro AG. Before Tesco a member of the Home Civil Service including time as Director of the Deregulation Unit and as a Member of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit, 10 Downing Street.
Director of Assured Food Standards (Red Tractor) and Governor of London Business School. Committee memberships:
Audit and Risk; Nomination, Remuneration.
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