AGM Information • Jun 19, 2014
AGM Information
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Notice of AGM
Renold plc
THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in any doubt about the action you should take, you should consult your stockbroker, solicitor, accountant or other professional investment adviser authorised underthe Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
If you have sold or otherwise transferred all of your holding of Ordinary Shares in Renold plc, please forward this document, together with the accompanying documents, to the purchaser or transferee or to the stockbroker, bank or other agent through or to whom the sale was effected for transmission to the purchaser or transferee.
Notice of the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held at Renold House, Styal Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M22 5WL on Tuesday 22 July 2014 at 11.00 a.m. is set out on pages 5 to 9 inclusive. Whether or not Ordinary Shareholders propose to attend the 2014 Annual General Meeting, Ordinary Shareholders are requested to complete and return the enclosed form of proxy so as to be received by the Company's registrars, Capita Asset Services, at The Registry, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4TU no later than 11.00 a.m. on 18 July 2014. The return of a form of proxy will not preclude an Ordinary Shareholder from attending and voting at the 2014 Annual General Meeting in person should they subsequently decide to do so.
The following definitions apply throughout this document:
2006 Act means the Companies Act 2006;
2014 Annual General Meeting means the annual general meeting of the Company to be held at Renold House, Styal Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M22 5WL on Tuesday 22 July 2014 at 11.00 a.m.;
Board means the Board of Directors of Renold plc;
Company means Renold plc (incorporated and registered in England and Wales with number 249688);
Directors means the Directors of the Company and Director means any of them;
Notice of Annual General Meeting means the notice convening the 2014 Annual General Meeting set out on pages 5 to 9; inclusive of this document;
Ordinary Shareholder means a holder of Ordinary Shares;
Ordinary Shares means ordinary shares of 5p each in the capital of the Company;
Preference Shareholders means the holders of 6% cumulative preference stock of £1 each in the capital of the Company; and
Resolutions means the resolutions set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting, and a reference to a numbered Resolution is to the resolution so numbered in the Notice of Annual General Meeting.
Registered Office: Renold House Styal Road Wythenshawe Manchester M22 5WL
Incorporated and registered in England and Wales with number 249688
20 June 2014
Directors: Mark Harper (Chairman) Robert Purcell (Chief Executive) Brian Tenner (Finance Director) John Allkins (Senior Independent Non-Executive Director) Ian Griffiths (Non-Executive Director)
The 2014 Annual General Meeting is to be held at Renold House, Styal Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M22 5WL on Tuesday 22 July 2014 at 11.00 a.m. The formal Notice of Annual General Meeting is set out on pages 5 to 9 inclusive of this document.
The purpose of this letter is to explain certain elements of the business to be considered at the 2014 Annual General Meeting.
Resolutions 1 to 10 will be proposed as ordinary resolutions and Resolutions 11 to 14 will be proposed as special resolutions. The proposed ordinary resolutions will be passed if more than 50% of the votes cast are in favour and the proposed special resolutions will be passed if at least 75% of the votes cast are in favour.
The ordinary business to be proposed at the 2014 Annual General Meeting The ordinary business to be proposed at the 2014 Annual General Meeting is set out in Resolutions 1 to 9 inclusive.
Changes to the 2006 Act, implemented by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, provide that a quoted company may not make a remuneration payment to a director of a company unless the payment is consistent with the Company's remuneration policy, as approved by the shareholders (at least once every three years), or the payment is approved by a shareholder's resolution. The legislation requires two resolutions to be put to shareholders on separate sections of the Directors' remuneration report. The first of these is an advisory resolution on the Directors' remuneration report (which can be found on pages 60 to 74 of the 2014 Annual Report and Accounts), excluding the Directors' remuneration policy, which details the remuneration packages paid to the Directors during the year ended 31 March 2014.
The second resolution is a binding resolution, passed by a majority of the shareholders, to approve the Directors' remuneration policy. The Directors' remuneration policy (which is contained in the Directors' remuneration report and can be found on pages 62 to 68 of the 2014 Annual Report and Accounts), will apply to all payments made to Directors from the date the policy is approved by shareholders. Since the resolution is binding, it will be necessary for the Company to convene a General Meeting to put the resolution to shareholders again, in the event that it is not passed at the 2014 Annual General Meeting.
Under the Company's articles of association, up to one third of the Directors are obliged to retire by rotation at each annual general meeting of the Company and be eligible for re-election. From this year onwards, the Directors propose to extend this obligation under the articles, to require all Non-Executive Directors to put themselves forward for re-election on an annual basis. The Directors note that this exceeds their obligations under the UK Corporate Governance Code, which requires that all the Directors should submit themselves for re-election at intervals of no more than three years.
At the 2014 Annual General Meeting, Brian Tenner will retire in accordance with the articles of association and myself, John Allkins and Ian Griffiths as Non-Executive Directors, will also put ourselves forward for re-election by the Ordinary Shareholders, with the recommendation of the Board.
Brief biographical details of each Director subject to re-election can be found in the Annex to this Notice of Annual General Meeting.
The special business to be proposed at the 2014 Annual General Meeting
In addition to the ordinary business, you will find Resolutions 10 to 14 inclusive, which will be proposed at the 2014 Annual General Meeting as special business. A detailed explanation of Resolutions 10 to 14 follows.
Resolution 10 deals with the Directors' authority to allot shares. The Directors are currently authorised to allot relevant securities of the Company but their authorisation ends on the date of 2014 Annual General Meeting. This resolution seeks to renew the Directors' authority to allot shares.
In accordance with guidance issued by the Association of British Insurers, Resolution 10 will, if passed, give the Directors the authority to allot Ordinary Shares or grant rights to subscribe for or convert any securities into Ordinary Shares up to a maximum nominal amount of £7,428,054, representing 148,561,092 Ordinary Shares and approximately 66.6% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company as at the date of this document. Of this amount, 74,280,546 Ordinary Shares representing approximately 33.3% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company can only be allotted pursuant to a fully pre-emptive rights issue. The Association of British Insurers expects all members of the Board to stand for re-election at the next Annual General Meeting if the Company makes allotments in excess of one third of the nominal value over the course of the year and the monetary proceeds exceed one third of the pre-issue market capitalisation of the Company. The Board would intend to meet The Association of British Insurers' expectations should such an allotment be made.
This authority would expire on the earlier of the conclusion of the Company's next annual general meeting and 22 January 2016. The Board has no present intention of exercising the authority and intends to seek its renewal at subsequent annual general meetings of the Company.
As at the date of this document, the Company held no shares in treasury.
Resolution 11 seeks to renew the authority conferred on the Directors at last year's annual general meeting to issue Ordinary Shares for cash without complying with the pre-emption rights in the 2006 Act in certain circumstances.
If approved, Resolution 11 will authorise the Directors to issue shares in connection with a rights issue or other similar issue and otherwise to issue shares for cash up to a maximum nominal amount of £557,661.75, which includes the sale on a non pre-emptive basis of any shares the Company may hold in treasury for cash. The maximum nominal amount of equity securities to which this authority relates represents approximately 5% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company as at the date of this document. If granted, this authority would expire on the earlier of the conclusion of the Company's next annual general meeting and 22 January 2016. The Directors have no present intention of exercising this authority.
The Directors confirm their intention to follow the provisions of the Pre-emption Group's Statement of Principles regarding cumulative usage of authorities within a rolling three year period. The Principles provide that companies should not issue shares for cash representing more than 7.5% of the company's issued share capital in any rolling three year period, other than to existing shareholders, without prior consultation with shareholders.
Resolution 12 seeks shareholders' authority for the Company to make market purchases of its own Ordinary Shares. The Directors have no present intention of exercising this authority, but would wish to have the flexibility to do so in the future. Purchases of own Ordinary Shares would only be made through the London Stock Exchange. Any Ordinary Shares purchased would be cancelled (in which case the number of Ordinary Shares in issue would thereby be reduced) or held in treasury, depending on which course of action is considered by the Directors to be in the best interests of the shareholders at that time.
As stated above, the Directors have no present intention of exercising the authority to purchase the Company's Ordinary Shares but will keep the matter under review and will only exercise the authority to make purchases of Ordinary Shares granted by Resolution 12 if they believe that to do so would result in an improvement in earnings per share and/or is in the best interests of the shareholders generally. The maximum number of Ordinary Shares which may be purchased is 22,306,470 representing approximately 10% of the issued Ordinary Shares as at the date of this document. The authority would expire on the earlier of the conclusion of the Company's next annual general meeting and 22 January 2016. The minimum price that could be paid for an Ordinary Share would be the nominal value of such Ordinary Share and the maximum price would be the maximum price permitted by the Financial Conduct Authority's Listing Rules or in case of a tender offer, 5% above average of the middle market quotations for an Ordinary Share, as derived from the London Stock Exchange Daily Official List for the five business days immediately preceding the day on which the terms of the tender offer are announced, in each case excluding expenses.
As at the date of this document, options over a total of 7,609,971 Ordinary Shares were outstanding and not exercised. That number of Ordinary Shares represents approximately 3.41% of the Company's total issued ordinary capital as at the same date. It would represent approximately 3.79% of the issued ordinary share capital if the authority to purchase the Company's own Ordinary Shares conferred by Resolution 12 had been exercised in full at that date and the shares so purchased had been cancelled.
Resolution 13 seeks to renew an authority granted at the Company's last annual general meeting to allow the Company to hold General Meetings (other than annual general meetings) on 14 days' notice. Under the Companies (Shareholder Rights) Regulations 2009 this authority is required to be approved by the shareholders annually, otherwise a minimum of 21 days' notice must be given. The Directors believe it is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole to preserve the shorter notice period. However, the flexibility offered by this resolution will not be used as a matter of routine for General Meetings, but only where, taking into account all the circumstances, the Directors consider this appropriate in relation to the business to be considered at the meeting.
Part 14 of the 2006 Act imposes restrictions on companies making political donations to: (i) political parties; (ii) other political organisations and (iii) independent election candidates and on incurring political expenditure (as defined in the 2006 Act) without shareholders' consent. The Company does not envisage making any political donations. However, as the definitions used in the 2006 Act are broad, it is possible that normal business activities, which might not be thought to be political expenditure in the usual sense, could be caught. On that basis, authority is being sought purely as a precaution. As permitted under the 2006 Act, Resolution 14 covers any political donations made, or political expenditure incurred, by any subsidiaries of the Company.
A reply-paid form of proxy for use at the 2014 Annual General Meeting is enclosed. Whether or not you are able to attend the 2014 Annual General Meeting, you are advised to complete, sign, date and return the form of proxy in accordance with the instructions printed on it so as to arrive at the offices of the Company's registrars, Capita Asset Services, at The Registry, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4TU, as soon as possible but, in any event, no later than 11.00 a.m. on 18 July 2014.
The Board considers that the passing of Resolutions 1 to 14 inclusive is likely to promote the success of the Company and is in the best interests of the Company and of its shareholders as a whole and the Board unanimously recommends that you vote in favour of them, as each of the Directors intends to do in respect of his own beneficial holdings of Ordinary Shares, being approximately 2.112% in aggregate of the Ordinary Shares in issue as at the date of this document.
Yours faithfully
Mark Harper Chairman
Notice is hereby given that the 2014 Annual General Meeting of Renold plc will be held at 11.00 a.m. on Tuesday 22 July 2014 at Renold House, Styal Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M22 5WL to consider and, if thought fit, pass the following resolutions.
You will be asked to consider and vote on the Resolutions below. Resolutions 1 to 10 inclusive will be proposed as ordinary resolutions and Resolutions 11 to 14 inclusive will be proposed as special resolutions.
Ordinary business
d. all authorities vested in the Directors on the date of the notice of this meeting to allot shares or to grant Allotment Rights that remain unexercised at the commencement of this meeting are revoked.
and shall expire when the authority conferred on the Directors by Resolution 10 in this notice of meeting expires save that, before the expiry of this power, the Company may make any offer or agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted after such expiry.
a. the maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares that may be purchased under this authority is 22,306,470;
That in accordance with section 366 of the 2006 Act, the Company and all companies which are subsidiaries of the Company at any time during the period for which this resolution is effective are authorised, in aggregate to:
a. make political donations to political parties or independent election candidates not exceeding £50,000 in total; b. make political donations to political organisations other than political parties not exceeding £50,000 in
total; and c. incur political expenditure not exceeding £50,000 in total,
(as such terms are defined in the 2006 Act) during the period beginning with the date of the passing of this Resolution 14 and ending on the earlier of the conclusion of the Company's next annual general meeting and 22 January 2016, provided that the authorised sum referred to in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of this Resolution 14, may be comprised of one or more amounts in different currencies which, for the purpose of calculating the said sum, shall be converted into pounds sterling at the exchange rate published in the London edition of the Financial Times on the date on which the relevant donation is made or expenditure incurred (or the first business day thereafter) or, if earlier, on the day on which the Company enters into any contract or undertaking in relation to the same provided that, in any event, the aggregate amount of political donations and political expenditure made or incurred by the Company and its subsidiaries pursuant to this Resolution 14 shall not exceed £150,000.
By order of the Board
Louise Brace Company Secretary Renold plc Registered office: Renold House Styal Road Wythenshawe
Manchester M22 5WL (Registered in England and Wales with number 249688)
Dated 20 June 2014
In either case, the revocation notice must be received by Capita Asset Services no later than 11.00 a.m. on 18 July 2014 (or in the case of an adjournment, by the time 48 hours, excluding non working days, before the time appointed for the adjourned meeting).
If you attempt to revoke your proxy appointment but the revocation is received after the time specified then, subject to the paragraph directly below, your proxy appointment will remain valid.
Appointment of a proxy does not preclude you from attending the 2014 Annual General Meeting and voting in person. If you have appointed a proxy and attend the 2014 Annual General Meeting in person, your proxy appointment will automatically be terminated.
Biographical details of Directors submitted for re-election
Chairman Mark, aged 58, was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman-elect on 1 May 2012. He took on the role of Chairman at the close of the annual general meeting on 12 July 2012. Prior to joining the Company, Mark became the Chief Executive of Filtrona plc at the time of its demerger from Bunzl plc in June 2005 and led a successful period of growth until his retirement in May 2011. He also held a number of senior operational management positions within Bunzl plc, being appointed to the Bunzl plc Board in September 2004 and has previously acted as a Non-Executive Director of BBA Aviation plc.
Finance Director Brian, aged 45, joined the Company in September 2010 as Finance Director. Until 31 August 2010, he was Group Finance Director and a member of the Board of Scapa Group plc. Prior to this, he was Group Finance Director for the former British Nuclear Group. Brian held various Finance Director posts within National Grid and his first industry role was as Head of Investor Relations of Lattice Group plc. His early career was spent with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he qualified as a chartered accountant and he completed several extended international assignments and a wide range of consulting and corporate finance projects.
Senior Independent Non-Executive Director John, aged 64, was appointed to the Board and to the chair of the Audit Committee in April 2008 and became the Senior Independent Non-Executive Director on 21 January 2013. His appointment to both was extended in April 2014. John brings strong relevant technical experience to the role having served as the finance director of the publicly quoted companies MyTravel Group plc and Equant NV. Since 2007, he has served as a Non-Executive Director on a number of boards of public and private companies and is currently a Non-Executive Director of Fairpoint Group plc, Punch Taverns plc, Nobina SA and Volex plc. John is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Non-Executive Director Ian, aged 63, was appointed to the Board in January 2010 and to the chair of the Remuneration Committee in November 2010. His appointment to both was extended in January 2013. He was previously Managing Director of Royal Mail Letters and a Director of Royal Mail Holdings plc. He has also been a Non-Executive Director of Ultra Electronics Holdings plc and held Executive Director roles at GKN plc and GKN Holdings plc where he was Group Managing Director, GKN Automotive.
Renold plc Renold House Styal Road Wythenshawe Manchester M22 5WL Telephone: +44 (0)161 498 4500 Fax: +44 (0)161 437 7782
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