AGM Information • Dec 15, 2010
AGM Information
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If you are in any doubt about the action you should take, you should immediately consult your independent financial adviser, authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. If you have sold your shares in RM plc, please hand this document and the accompanying form of proxy to the purchaser, stockbroker or other agent through whom the sale was effected, for transmission to the purchaser.
New Mill House, 183 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 4SE
15 December 2010
Dear Shareholder,
I have pleasure in enclosing a copy of the Report and Accounts for the financial year ended 30 September 2010 and Notice of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held at 2.00 pm on 17 January 2011 at 140 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RS. I hope that as many members of the Company as possible will be able to attend.
The Company is seeking your consideration and approval of the matters set out below:
The routine business of the Annual General Meeting includes: (a) the consideration of the Company's Report and Accounts; (b) the proposal recommended by the Directors to pay a final dividend of 5.25p per share on 4 February 2011 to all shareholders registered on the register of members at close of business on 7 January 2011; and (c) proposals to re-appoint Deloitte LLP as the Company's auditors and to authorise the Directors to fix the remuneration of the auditors.
Four Directors, Bryan Carsberg, Mike Tomlinson, Jo Connell and Terry Sweeney, are retiring and offering themselves for re-election in accordance with the UK Corporate Governance Code, which requires directors to be subject to re-election by shareholders at intervals of no more than three years, and the Company's Articles of Association which require one third of all Directors to retire each year. The Articles of Association and the UK Corporate Governance Code also require that newly-appointed Directors offer themselves for election at the next AGM following their appointment. Iain McIntosh, Executive Director, was appointed during the year and will therefore offer himself for election. Biographical details for each of these Directors are contained in the Annual Report and Accounts. In addition, the Board proposes that the Company's Articles of Association are amended to provide for the annual re-election of all directors at future Annual General Meetings of the Company, in accordance with the UK Corporate Governance Code. Please see the "Annual Re-election of Directors" section below for further details of these amendments.
Bryan Carsberg was appointed as a Non-Executive Director on 1 September 2002 and was last re-elected by shareholders in January 2008. His appointment is governed by a fixed-term letter of appointment. In July 2010 the Board exercised its discretion and extended Bryan Carsberg's appointment beyond nine years to 1 September 2014, subject to annual re-election. Sir Bryan's business skills and financial/regulatory knowledge are exceptional. Mike Tomlinson was appointed as a Non-Executive Director on 2 February 2004 and was last re-elected by shareholders in January 2009. His appointment is governed by a fixed-term letter of appointment. Jo Connell was appointed as a Non-Executive Director on 20 December 2007. She was elected by shareholders in January 2009. Her appointment is governed by a fixed-term letter of appointment. The Board believes that the contribution and commitment of Bryan Carsberg, Mike Tomlinson and Jo Connell as Non-Executive Directors are beneficial to the Group. As Chairman, I confirm that, following formal performance evaluation, their performances continue to be effective and to demonstrate their commitment to their roles.
Terry Sweeney is an Executive Director. He was appointed on 10 June 2008 and was elected by shareholders in January 2009. Iain McIntosh is an Executive Director. He was appointed on 1 April 2010.
In accordance with Section 439 of the Companies Act 2006 (the "2006 Act") your Board is asking for your approval of the Board Report on Remuneration, as set out in the Company's Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 September 2010.
The notice includes an ordinary resolution renewing the Directors' authority to allot shares, a special resolution dis-applying shareholders' pre-emption rights to a limited extent and a special resolution authorising the Company to make market purchases of its shares.
Resolution 11 renews the authority granted to the Directors to allot new shares in accordance with section 551 of the 2006 Act up to a nominal amount of £622,738, being 33.33% of the issued ordinary share capital at 30 November 2010 (being the latest practicable date prior to publication of this circular).
Resolution 12 renews the Directors' authority in accordance with section 561 of the 2006 Act to allot further shares for cash without first being required to offer such shares to existing shareholders. If approved, the resolution will authorise the Directors to issue shares in connection with a rights issue and otherwise to issue shares for cash, including the sale on a non pre-emptive basis of treasury shares for cash, up to a maximum nominal amount of £93,420, being 5% of the nominal value of the Company's issued ordinary share capital on 30 November 2010. The Directors do not intend to issue more than 7.5% of the issued share capital of the Company for cash on a non pre-emptive basis in any rolling three year period without prior consultation with the shareholders and Investment Committees of the Association of British Insurers and the National Association of Pension Funds.
Both these authorities will expire on the date of the next Annual General Meeting or on 1 April 2012 whichever is the earlier.
I must stress that, at present, your Directors have no intention of using these powers.
Resolution 13 renews the Directors' authority to make market purchases of up to 10% of the Company's issued ordinary shares as at 30 November 2010 (i.e. 9,342,005 ordinary shares). This authority will expire on the date of the next Annual General Meeting or on 1 April 2012 whichever is the earlier. The share repurchases made to date under the authorities granted by shareholders have enhanced pre-exceptional earnings per share to the benefit of all shareholders. The Board believes that it would be appropriate to have the option to use a proportion of the Company's cash resources to make further market repurchases of ordinary shares. The minimum price which may be paid for each share is the nominal value and the maximum price which may be paid for a share is an amount equal to the higher of 5% above the average of the middle market quotations of the Company's ordinary shares as derived from the London Stock Exchange Daily Official List for the 5 business days immediately preceding the day on which such share is contracted to be purchased and that stipulated by Article 5(1) of the Buy-back and Stabilisation Regulation 2003.
The Company will only exercise the authority granted by the proposed resolution where the Board reasonably believes that repurchasing its shares will increase earnings per share of the ordinary shares in issue after the purchase and, accordingly, is in the best interests of shareholders generally. The number of options to subscribe for equity shares that are outstanding at 30 November 2010 is 3,825,200, being 4.09% of the issued ordinary share capital at that date and 4.55% of the issued ordinary share capital at that date if the authority to make market purchases set out above were used in full, in both cases excluding treasury shares. The Company has no warrants to subscribe for equity shares that are outstanding at 22 November 2010.
The 2006 Act permits certain listed companies to hold shares in treasury, as an alternative to cancelling them, following a purchase of own shares by the company. Shares held in treasury may subsequently be cancelled, sold for cash or used to satisfy share options and share awards under share plans. 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.
Any shares purchased by the Company pursuant to the authority conferred by Resolution 13 will either be cancelled and the number of shares reduced accordingly or, if the Directors think fit, they may be held as treasury shares. As at 30 November 2010, the Company held no ordinary shares in treasury.
Resolution 14 seeks approval, subject to the Company's Articles of Association, for the Company to call general meetings (other than Annual General Meetings) on 14 clear days' notice. The notice period required by the 2006 Act for general meetings of the Company is 21 days unless shareholders approve a shorter notice period, which cannot however be less than 14 clear days (Annual General Meetings will continue to be held on at least 21 clear days' notice). Resolution 14 seeks the approval required by the 2006 Act, which will be effective until the Company's next Annual General Meeting, when it is intended that a similar resolution will be proposed. 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. The flexibility offered by Resolution 14 will be used when, taking into account the circumstances, the Directors consider this appropriate in relation to the business of the meeting and in the interests of the Company and the shareholders as a whole.
The current Articles of Association of the Company contain provisions pursuant to which at least one third of the Directors must retire by rotation at every Annual General Meeting. The UK Corporate Governance Code, issued by the Financial Reporting Council in May 2010 and applicable to financial years beginning on or after 29 June 2010, states that all directors of FTSE 350 companies should be re-elected annually. Previously, the Combined Code on Corporate Governance had provided that directors should seek re-election at least every three years. The move from three years to annual re-election is designed to promote better engagement with shareholders and was supported by institutional investors. The Directors are committed to measures that promote good governance and accordingly, Resolution 15 amends the Articles of Association to provide for annual re-election of all Directors in line with the UK Corporate Governance Code. The effect will be to allow for all the Directors to retire from office and, if eligible, offer themselves for re-election at every Annual General Meeting from the 2012 AGM onwards.
Please note that we have asked you to complete and return any proxies to our Registrars, Capita Registrars, and not directly to the Company. If you prefer, you may return the proxy form to the Registrar in an envelope addressed to FREEPOST RSBH-UXKS-LRBC, PXS, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 4TU. You may also appoint a proxy and give voting instructions online, via the Shareholder Portal, at www.capitashareportal.com. If you have not already done so, you will have to register to use this facility; you will need your Investor code which can be found on your Form of Proxy. CREST members who wish to appoint a proxy or proxies by utilising the CREST electronic proxy appointment service should refer to note 3 of the Notice of Annual General Meeting set out on page 6 of this document. Please note that the deadline for the receipt of proxy appointments by our Registrars is 2:00pm on 15 January 2011.
Your Directors consider that the above proposals are in the best interests of RM plc and its shareholders and recommend that you vote in favour of all the resolutions, as they intend to do in respect of their own beneficial holdings.
Yours sincerely
John Leighfield Chairman
Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of RM plc will be held at 140 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RS at 2.00 pm on 17 January 2011 to consider and, if thought fit, pass resolutions 1-11, which will be proposed as ordinary resolutions of the Company, and resolutions 12-15, which will be proposed as special resolutions of the Company:
That:
(a) the Directors be given power:
and so that the Directors may make such exclusions or other arrangements as they consider expedient in relation to treasury shares, fractional entitlements, record dates, shares represented by depositary receipts, legal or practical problems under the laws in any territory or the requirements of any relevant regulatory body or stock exchange or any other matter; and
(b) this power shall expire at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting of the Company after the passing of this resolution or, if earlier, at the close of business on 1 April 2012;
(c) all previous unutilised authorities under section 95 of the Companies Act 1985 and sections 570 and 573 of the 2006 Act shall cease to have effect; and
Articles 80 and 81 shall be deleted and replaced by the following Article 80:
At each Annual General Meeting the Company may require that each Director for the time being shall retire from office. A retiring Director shall be eligible for re-election.
By order of the Board,
A.J. Robson Secretary 15 December 2010
Registered Office: New Mill House 183 Milton Park Abingdon Oxon OX14 4SE
and in each case must be received by the Company not less than 48 hours before the time of the meeting.
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 & Ireland Limited's specifications and must contain the information required for such instructions, as described in the CREST Manual available via www.euroclear.com/CREST. The message (regardless of whether it relates to the appointment of a proxy or to 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"RA10") by the latest time(s) for receipt of proxy appointments specified in, or in a note to, the notice of meeting. 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 & Ireland Limited 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, to procure that his CREST sponsor or voting service provider takes) 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.
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