AGM Information • Jun 13, 2014
AGM Information
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THIS CIRCULAR IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in any doubt as to the action you should take, you should consult an appropriate independent financial adviser authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 immediately. If you have sold or transferred all your Ordinary Shares in the Company, please forward this Circular together with the Form of Proxy to the purchaser, transferee, stockbroker or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was effected, for transmission to the purchaser or transferee.
Notice of the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held at The Balmoral, 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 2EQ at 2.30pm on Wednesday 16 July 2014 is set out on pages 5 to 8 of this Circular. A Form of Proxy for use at the meeting is attached. To be valid, Forms of Proxy should be completed and returned in accordance with the notes to the Notice of Meeting and the Form of Proxy itself.
Registered office: Bond Dickinson LLP, St Ann's Wharf, 112 Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3DX
T 0191 244 6000 F 0191 244 6001 E [email protected]
Registered in England no 4280530 Directors: 13 June 2014 James Ferguson, Chairman Chris Fleetwood Tim Levett John Waddell
Dear Shareholder
I am pleased to be writing to you with details of our Annual General Meeting which will take place at 2.30pm on Wednesday 16 July 2014 at The Balmoral, 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 2EQ. The formal Notice of Annual General Meeting is set out on pages 5 to 8 of this document.
Explanatory notes on all the business to be considered at this year's AGM appear on pages 2 to 4 of this document.
If you would like to vote on the resolutions but cannot attend the AGM, please complete the Form of Proxy attached to this notice and return it to the Company's registrars, Equiniti Limited, at Aspect House, Spencer Road, Lancing BN99 6DA as soon as possible. They must receive it no later than 2.30pm on Monday 14 July 2014. Completion and return of the Form of Proxy will not preclude you from attending the AGM and voting in person should you so wish.
Your 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 and are most likely to promote the success of the Company for the benefit of its Shareholders. Your Directors will be voting in favour of the resolutions in respect of their own shareholdings and unanimously recommend that you do so as well.
Yours sincerely
James Ferguson Chairman
In this letter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions bear the following meanings:
| Act | the Companies Act 2006 | |
|---|---|---|
| AIC Code | the AIC Code of Corporate Governance published from time to time by the Association of Investment Companies |
|
| Annual General Meeting or AGM | the annual general meeting of the Company to be held at The Balmoral, 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 2EQ at 2.30pm on Wednesday 16 July 2014 |
|
| Articles | the articles of association of the Company as amended from time to time | |
| Circular | this document dated 13 June 2014 addressed to the Shareholders | |
| Company | Northern 3 VCT PLC | |
| Directors or Board | the directors of the Company, whose names are set out on page 1 of this document |
|
| Form of Proxy | the form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting | |
| Listing Rules | the listing rules of the Financial Conduct Authority made under Part VI of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended from time to time) |
|
| Ordinary Shares | ordinary shares of 5p each in the capital of the Company | |
| Shareholders | holders of Ordinary Shares |
All resolutions will be proposed as ordinary resolutions, unless otherwise mentioned. For an ordinary resolution to be passed, more than half of the votes cast (in person or by proxy) must be in favour of the resolution. For a special resolution to be passed, at least three-quarters of the votes cast (in person or by proxy) must be in favour of the resolution.
The Company is required by law to put the Company's annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2014 before Shareholders. Shareholders are invited to vote to receive the Company's annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2014 together with the Directors' report and independent auditor's report thereon.
Shareholders are being asked to approve a final dividend of 3.5p per Ordinary Share in respect of the year ended 31 March 2014. If you approve the recommended final dividend, this will be paid on 25 July 2014 to all Shareholders who were on the register of members on 4 July 2014.
The Company is required by law to seek Shareholders' approval of the Directors' remuneration report in respect of the year ended 31 March 2014, which is set out on pages 18 and 19 of the Company's annual report for the year ended 31 March 2014. Whilst the payment of remuneration to the Directors is not dependent on the passing of the resolution, your Board will take the vote into account when considering the future development and operation of the Company's remuneration policy and practice.
The Company is required by the Act to seek Shareholders' approval of the Directors' remuneration policy as set out in the Directors' remuneration report. This is a new requirement which applies to Directors' remuneration policies for financial years ending on or after 30 September 2013. The Directors' remuneration policy will take effect from the date of approval by Shareholders. A resolution for the approval of the Directors' remuneration policy must be proposed at least every three years, or in the event of a change in the policy if sooner.
Mr T R Levett retires from the Board in accordance with the AIC Code and seeks re-election. Mr J M O Waddell retires from the Board by rotation in accordance with the articles of association and also seeks re-election. Your Board believes that each of the Directors seeking re-election makes a relevant and significant contribution to the operation of the Board and displays an appropriate level of knowledge and experience.
Mr Tim Levett (aged 65) was appointed to the Board in 2001. He is a member of the nomination committee.
Mr Levett is chairman of NVM Private Equity Limited. He is a non-executive director of Northern Venture Trust PLC and of several unquoted companies and was a co-founder of NVM in 1988.
Mr John Waddell (aged 58) was appointed to the Board in 2007. He is a member of the audit committee, the nomination committee and the management engagement committee.
Mr Waddell is chief executive of Archangel Informal Investment Limited, a Scottish-based syndicate of individual private equity investors, and was previously a director of Noble Grossart Limited.
The Company is required by law to appoint an auditor at its Annual General Meeting. Shareholders are invited to vote to re-appoint KPMG LLP as independent auditor of the Company until the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company.
Shareholders are invited to vote to give the Directors authority to fix the independent auditor's remuneration.
Shareholders are being asked to grant the Directors a general authority to allot shares in the Company. This resolution, if passed, gives the Directors authority to allot Ordinary Shares up to a maximum nominal value of £332,515 (representing 10% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company at the date of the notice convening the Annual General Meeting).
This authority will be effective until the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company (expected to be held in July 2015) or, if earlier, 30 September 2015 except insofar as commitments to allot shares have been entered into before that date. The Directors have no present intention of exercising the authority granted by Resolution 9 except in connection with the issue of Ordinary Shares pursuant to the Company's dividend investment scheme.
This resolution supplements the Directors' authority to allot shares in the Company given to them by Resolution 9. The resolution authorises the Directors to allot equity Ordinary Shares, or sell treasury shares, for cash (otherwise than pro rata to existing Shareholders) up to an aggregate nominal value of £332,515 (representing 10% of the Company's issued ordinary share capital at the date of the notice convening the Annual General Meeting).
The authority will be effective until the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company (expected to be held in July 2015) or, if earlier, 30 September 2015, save that the Directors may so allot equity shares in pursuance of an offer or agreement entered into before the authority expires.
Resolution 10 will be proposed as a special resolution.
This resolution authorises the Company to purchase in the market up to 6,650,319 Ordinary Shares (equivalent to approximately 10% of the issued ordinary share capital) at a minimum price per share of 5p and a maximum price per share of not more than 105% of the average market value of the relevant shares for the five business days prior to the date on which the purchase is made.
Unless previously renewed, varied or revoked, the authority will be effective until the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company (expected to be held in July 2015) or, if earlier, 30 September 2015.
Purchases of Ordinary Shares will be made only within the guidelines established and to be reviewed from time to time by the Directors, and where it is considered that such purchases would be to the advantage of the Company and its Shareholders as a whole. It is the Directors' intention that purchases will be made in the market for cash only at prices below the prevailing net asset value per share thereby enhancing the net asset value per share for the Company's remaining shareholders. Purchases will be financed from the Company's own cash resources or, if appropriate, from short term borrowings.
The cap on the price payable contained in the proposed resolution reflects part of a restriction on the Company contained in the Listing Rules. In addition, under the Listing Rules the Company must not purchase shares at a price greater than the higher of the last independent trade and the highest current independent bid on the market where the purchase is carried out.
There are no existing Ordinary Shares covered by options or warrants at the date of publication of this document.
Shares purchased under this authority become treasury shares which the Company can cancel or hold for sale for cash.
Resolution 11 will be proposed as a special resolution.
This resolution amends the Articles to allow the Company to make available all notices, documents and information to be sent to Shareholders by making such notices, documents and information available via website communication with Shareholders.
The Company can ask each individual Shareholder for his or her consent to receive communications from the Company via the Company's website. When the Company places a document on its website, it must notify by post each Shareholder who has consented (or is deemed to have consented) to receive communications in this way that the document has been placed on its website. If the Shareholder has already agreed to receive documents electronically, that notification by the Company may be made by email. A Shareholder who has received a document electronically can ask for a hard copy of any document at any time and Shareholders can also revoke their consent to receive electronic communications at any time. In summary, there is now a potentially greater choice of means for communications between the Company and its Shareholders.
A letter is enclosed with this circular which provides further details of how the Company proposes to take advantage of the opportunities offered by these changes. As part of that letter, each Shareholder is being given the opportunity to confirm whether he or she is happy for the Company to make documents and information available to him or her via a website. If a Shareholder does not provide such confirmation, he or she will continue to receive hard copy documents and information from the Company.
Details of the proposed amendment to the Articles are set out in Resolution 12 on page 6 of this document.
A copy of the current and new articles of association that reflect these changes will be available for inspection during normal business hours on any weekday (Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays excepted) at the registered office of the Company up to the time of the Meeting. Copies will also be available at The Balmoral, 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 2EQ on the afternoon of the Meeting from 1.30pm until its conclusion.
Resolution 12 will be proposed as a special resolution.
Notice is hereby given that the twelfth annual general meeting of the Company will be held at The Balmoral, 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 2EQ at 2.30pm on Wednesday 16 July 2014 for the following purposes:
"That in substitution for and to the exclusion of any power previously conferred upon the Directors in this regard (save to the extent relied upon prior to the passing of this resolution), the Directors be generally and unconditionally authorised pursuant to Section 551 of the Act to allot shares in the Company and to grant rights to subscribe for or to convert any security into shares in the Company up to a maximum nominal amount of £332,515 for a period expiring (unless previously renewed, varied or revoked by the Company in general meeting) on the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company after the passing of this resolution or, if earlier, 30 September 2015, save that the Company may before expiry of this authority make an offer or agreement which would or might require shares to be allotted, or rights to subscribe for or to convert any security into shares to be granted, after expiry of this authority and the Directors may allot shares, or grant rights to subscribe for or convert any security into shares, in pursuance of that offer or agreement as if this authority had not expired."
10 To consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following resolution as a special resolution:
"That, subject to the passing of Resolution 9 above and in substitution for and to the exclusion of any power previously conferred upon the Directors in this regard (save to the extent relied upon prior to the passing of this resolution), the Directors may:
in each case as if Section 561(1) of the Act (existing shareholders' right of pre-emption) did not apply to the allotment or sale, provided that the power conferred by this resolution shall be limited to the allotment or sale of equity securities up to an aggregate nominal value of £332,515 and shall expire on the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company after the passing of this resolution or, if earlier, 30 September 2015, save that the Company may before this power expires make an offer or agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted or treasury shares to be sold after the power expires."
11 To consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following resolution as a special resolution:
"That the Company be and is hereby generally and unconditionally authorised in accordance with Section 701 of the Act to make one or more market purchases (within the meaning of Section 693(4) of the Act) of its ordinary shares of 5p each provided that:
(c) the maximum price (excluding expenses) which may be paid for an ordinary share shall not be more than 105% of the average market value of the ordinary shares of the Company for the five business days prior to the date the purchase is made; and
(d) unless previously renewed, varied or revoked, the authority hereby conferred shall expire on the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the Company after the passing of this resolution or, if earlier, 30 September 2015, save that the Company may conclude a contract of purchase before this authority expires that would or might be executed wholly or partly after this authority expires."
"That the articles of association of the Company be amended as follows:
(a) Article 139 shall be amended by adding the following sentence to the end of that Article:
"A document or information made available by making it available on a website shall be deemed to have been received on the date on which notification of availability on the website is deemed to have been received in accordance with this article or, if later, the date on which it is first made available on the website."
By order of the Board
Secretary St Ann's Wharf 112 Quayside Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3DX 13 June 2014
4 The Company, pursuant to Regulation 41 of the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001, specifies that only those shareholders registered in the register of members of the Company as at 6.00pm on Monday 14 July 2014 shall be entitled to attend or vote (whether on a show of hands or on a poll) at the meeting in respect of the number of shares registered in their name at the time. Changes to entries on the register after 6.00pm on Monday 14 July 2014 (or after 6.00pm on the day which is two working days before any adjourned meeting) shall be disregarded in determining the rights of any person to attend or vote at the meeting.
5 As at 12 June 2014 (being the last business day prior to the date of this notice) the Company's issued share capital consisted of 66,503,194 ordinary shares each carrying one vote per share. Accordingly the total number of voting rights in the Company as at 12 June 2014 was 66,503,194.
In order for a proxy appointment or instruction 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 & Ireland Limited's (EUI) specifications 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 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 this 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 Application 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 EUI does not make available special procedures in CREST for any particular message. 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 provider(s) 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.
12 If the total number of voting rights that the Chairman will be able to vote (taking into account any proxy appointments from Shareholders over which he is given discretion and any voting rights in respect of his own Shares) is such that he will have a notifiable obligation under the Disclosure and Transparency rules of the Financial Conduct Authority (the "DTRs"), the Chairman will make the necessary notifications to the Company and the Financial Conduct Authority. Therefore, any member holding 3% or more of the voting rights in the Company who grants the Chairman a discretionary proxy in respect of some or all of those voting rights and so would otherwise have a notification obligation under the DTRs, need not make a separate notification to the Company and to the Financial Conduct Authority. However, any member holding 3% or more of the voting rights in the Company who appoints a person other than the Chairman as proxy will need to ensure that both the member and the proxy comply with the respective disclosure obligations under the DTRs.
Form of Proxy for the Annual General Meeting on 16 July 2014
I/We ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………
of …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….
(block capitals please)
being a member of Northern 3 VCT PLC, hereby appoint (see notes 1 and 2)
or failing him/her the chairman of the meeting to be my/our proxy and exercise all or any of my/our rights to attend, speak and vote for me/us in respect of my/our voting entitlement on my/our behalf at the twelfth Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held at 2.30pm on 16 July 2014, notice of which was sent to shareholders on 13 June 2014 with the annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2014, and at any adjournment thereof. The proxy will vote as indicated below in respect of the resolutions set out in the notice of meeting:
| Resolution number |
For | Against | Vote withheld |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | To receive the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2014 | † | † | † |
| 2 | To declare a final dividend of 3.5p per share in respect of the year ended 31 March 2014 |
† | † | † |
| 3 | To approve the Directors' remuneration report in respect of the year ended 31 March 2014 other than the part of such report containing the Directors' remuneration policy |
† | † | † |
| 4 | To approve the Directors' remuneration policy contained in the Directors' remuneration report for the year ended 31 March 2014 |
† | † | † |
| 5 | To re-elect Mr T R Levett as a director | † | † | † |
| 6 | To re-elect Mr J M O Waddell as a director | † | † | † |
| 7 | To re-appoint KPMG LLP as independent auditor | † | † | † |
| 8 | To authorise the Directors to fix the remuneration of the independent auditor | † | † | † |
| 9 | To authorise the Directors to allot shares pursuant to Section 551 of the Companies Act 2006 |
† | † | † |
| 10 | To disapply Section 561 of the Companies Act 2006 in relation to certain allotments of equity securities |
† | † | † |
| 11 | To authorise the Company to make market purchases of ordinary shares in accordance with Section 701 of the Companies Act 2006 |
† | † | † |
| 12 | To amend the articles of association of the Company | † | † | † |
| † | Please indicate by placing an X in this box if this proxy appointment is one of multiple appointments being made (see note 2 below). |
| Signed: ……………………………………………………………………………… | Date: ………………………………………………2014 |
|---|---|
| ---------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ |
Shareholders who intend to attend the Annual General Meeting are requested to place a tick in the box below in order to assist with administrative arrangements.
| I/we intend to attend the Annual General Meeting at 2.30pm on Wednesday 16 July 2014 at The Balmoral, 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 2EQ |
||
|---|---|---|
| Signed: ……………………………………………………………………………… | Date: ………………………………………………2014 |
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