AGM Information • Apr 18, 2012
AGM Information
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This document is important and requires your immediate attention.
If you have any doubts about what action you need to take, you should immediately contact your stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other independent professional adviser authorised pursuant to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
If you have sold or transferred all of your holding of ordinary shares you should pass this document and any accompanying documents to the person through whom the sale or transfer was effected, for transmission to the purchaser or transferee.
Tribal Group plc Company registered in England and Wales no. 4128850 Registered office: 1-4 Portland Square, Bristol BS2 8RR
18 April 2012
Dear Shareholder,
This year's Annual General Meeting of the Company will be held at 10.00 a.m. on Wednesday 16 May 2012 at the offices of Osborne Clarke, One London Wall, London EC2Y 5EB. For directions to this address, please visit http://www.osborneclarke.com/contact-us/london/directions.aspx or call us on 0203 402 3540.
The notice of the Annual General Meeting is set out on pages 3 to 5 of this document. This letter summarises the items of business to be transacted at the meeting, and on pages 8 to 10 of this document there are notes explaining these resolutions.
Shareholders who have elected to receive information from the Company in hard copy have received this document with the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2011. Shareholders receiving information electronically can view this document and the Annual Report and Accounts on our Company's website at www.tribalgroup.com/investors.
corporate governance developments. An explanation of the changes between the proposed and the existing Articles of Association is set out in the explanatory notes to resolution 15 on page 10 of this document.
If you are unable to attend the meeting or wish to register your proxy votes now in relation to the resolutions proposed you should complete the Form of Proxy and return it to the Company's Registrars, Capita Registrars, by no later than 10.00 a.m. on 14 May 2012, following the instructions on the form. Alternatively you may submit your proxy electronically using our registrar's Share Portal service at www.capitashareportal.com
If you have elected to receive information from the Company in hard copy you will have received the Form of Proxy with this Notice and the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2011. If you are receiving information electronically you will have received the Form of Proxy. Alternatively, copies of the Form of Proxy are available from our registrars on 0871 664 0300 (calls cost 10p per minute plus network charges and lines are open 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.).
Your Board considers each of the proposed resolutions to be in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole. Accordingly, your directors unanimously recommend that you vote in favour of the resolutions, as they intend to do in respect of their own beneficial shareholdings.
Yours sincerely
John Ormerod Chairman
Notice is hereby given that the twelfth Annual General Meeting of Tribal Group plc ("the Company") will be held at 10.00 a.m. on Wednesday 16 May 2012 at the offices of Osborne Clarke, One London Wall, London EC2Y 5EB, for the following purposes:
"That the directors be and are hereby generally and unconditionally authorised in accordance with section 551 of the Companies Act 2006 (the "2006 Act") to exercise all the powers of the Company to allot shares in the Company ("Shares") and grant rights to subscribe for, or to convert any security into, Shares ("Subscription or Conversion Rights") up to an aggregate nominal amount of £1,876,926.85, provided that this authority shall expire at the conclusion of the annual general meeting of the Company to be held in 2013 unless previously renewed or extended, save that the Company may before such expiry make offers or agreements which would or might require Shares to be allotted or Subscription or Conversion Rights to be granted after such expiry and the directors may allot Shares and grant Subscription or Conversion Rights in pursuance of any such offers or agreements as if the authority conferred hereby had not expired and all unexercised authorities previously granted to the directors to allot Shares and grant Subscription or Conversion Rights be and are hereby revoked."
"That, subject to the passing of Resolution 11 above, the directors are hereby empowered in accordance with section 570 and section 573 of the 2006 Act to allot equity securities (as defined in section 560 of the 2006 Act) of the Company wholly for cash pursuant to the authority of the directors under section 551 of the 2006 Act conferred by Resolution 11 above, and/or by way of a sale of treasury shares for cash, in each case as if section 561(1) of the 2006 Act did not apply to any such allotment, provided that the power conferred by this resolution shall be limited to:
but subject to such exclusions or other arrangements as the directors may deem necessary or expedient to deal with treasury shares, fractional entitlements, record dates, legal regulatory or practical problems in or under the laws of any territory or the requirements of any regulatory body or any stock exchange or any other matter; and
(b) in the case of the authority granted under Resolution 11 and/or in the case of the sale of treasury shares for cash, the allotment (otherwise than pursuant to subparagraph (a) above) of equity securities or sale of treasury shares up to an aggregate nominal value of £234,239.95
unless previously revoked, varied or extended, such power shall expire at the conclusion of the annual general meeting of the Company to be held in 2013 unless previously renewed or extended except that the Company may before the expiry of this power make an offer or agreement which would or might require equity securities to be allotted (and treasury shares to be sold) after such expiry and the directors may allot equity securities (and sell treasury shares) in pursuance of such an offer or agreement as if this power had not expired."
"That, in accordance with Article 11 of its Articles of Association and section 701 of the 2006 Act, the Company is generally and unconditionally authorised to make market purchases (as defined in section 693(4) of the 2006 Act) of ordinary shares of 5p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") on such terms and in such manner as the directors of the Company may from time to time determine provided that:
(c) this authority will expire at the conclusion of the annual general meeting of the Company to be held in 2013 unless renewed or extended before that time, but the Company may enter into a contract for the purchase of its Ordinary Shares under this authority before its expiry which will or may be completed wholly or partly after the expiry of this authority and may make a purchase of Ordinary Shares in pursuance of any such contract."
To consider and if thought fit pass the following resolution as a Special Resolution:
"That a general meeting other than an annual general meeting may be called on not less than 14 clear days' notice."
"That, with effect from the conclusion of the meeting, the Articles of Association produced to the meeting and initialled by the Chairman of the meeting for the purposes of identification be adopted as the new Articles of Association of the Company in substitution for, and to the exclusion of, the existing Articles of Association."
By order of the Board
Registered Office:
Steve Breach Secretary Tribal Group plc
18 April 2012
1-4 Portland Square, Bristol BS2 8RR
Registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 4128850
and members' matters of business received by the Company after the date on which notice of the meeting was given.
The directors must present the accounts, directors' report and auditors' report to the shareholders at the AGM. If you have requested to receive information from the Company in hard copy, a hard copy of the Annual Report and Accounts will be included with this document. If you have elected to receive documents electronically, the Annual Report and Accounts can be accessed on our website www.tribalgroup.com/investors or are available on request from the company secretary or our registrars.
All quoted companies are required by law to produce for each financial year a directors' remuneration report which sets out the Remuneration Committee's policy in relation to directors' remuneration, together with the remuneration and benefits paid to directors during the year. The Company is also required to put an ordinary resolution to shareholders approving the report at the meeting at which the Company's report and accounts for that period are laid.
Accordingly, Resolution 2 seeks the approval of the directors' remuneration report which is set out on pages 49 to 54 of the report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2011.
This resolution concerns the Company's final dividend payment. A final dividend can only be paid after the shareholders at a general meeting have approved it. The directors are recommending a final dividend of 0.60p per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2011 which, if approved, will be payable on 13 July 2012 to shareholders who are on the register of members of the Company on 15 June 2012.
Shareholders are required to appoint auditors at each general meeting at which accounts are presented. This resolution proposes the appointment of Deloitte LLP as auditors of the Company and authorise the directors to set their remuneration.
The board has resolved to adopt the practice required of FTSE350 companies by the UK Corporate Governance Code that each director offer himself for re-election each year. Biographies of each director appear on page 40 of the Annual Report. Resolution 15 (Adoption of new Articles of Association) (see below) is being proposed at the Annual General Meeting in part to make it a specific requirement that all directors should be subject to re-election on an annual basis.
Having considered the performance of and contribution made by each director, the Board remains satisfied that each of them continues to be effective and to demonstrate commitment to their roles and, as such, recommends each re-appointment.
At last year's Annual General Meeting, the shareholders authorised the Directors, under section 551 of the Companies Act 2006, to allot relevant securities up to an aggregate nominal value of £1,658,206.70. This authority is due to expire at the end of the AGM and it is proposed to renew this authority. An ordinary resolution will be proposed to give the directors authority to allot further shares (and rights to subscribe for such shares) in the capital of the Company. In accordance with Institutional Shareholders' Committee guidelines, any such authority should be limited by reference to the issued ordinary share capital of the Company. In broad terms, such authority should be limited to an amount equal to one third of the existing issued ordinary share capital of the Company; to the one third figure can be added amounts which have been approved by shareholders to satisfy the Company's obligations to issue ordinary shares in respect of, inter alia, share options.
Accordingly, the proposed authority to allot ordinary shares will comprise:
a) 31,231,995 ordinary shares, representing approximately one third of the issued share capital of the Company as at 10 April 2012, the latest practicable date before the printing of this Notice; and
b) 6,306,542 ordinary shares, being the maximum number of ordinary shares which the Company may be obliged to issue under its share option schemes.
The authority, when given, will expire at the conclusion of next year's Annual General Meeting. Save as referred to in paragraph (b) above, the directors have no present intention of exercising this authority.
As at last year's Annual General Meeting, a special resolution will be proposed to empower directors to allot securities of the Company up to a specified amount in connection with rights issues without having to obtain prior approval from the shareholders on each occasion and also to allot a small number of these for cash without first being required to offer such shares to existing shareholders. In accordance with Institutional Shareholders' Committee guidelines, the number of ordinary shares which may be issued for cash under the latter authority should not exceed five per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company.
The proposed disapplication of pre-emption rights will mean that the number of ordinary shares which may be issued for cash without first being required to offer such shares to existing shareholders will not exceed 4,684,799 ordinary shares, being approximately five per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company as at 10 April 2012.
Under Article 11 of the Company's articles of association, the Company is empowered to purchase its own shares. As at last year's Annual General Meeting, the Company proposes a special resolution to enable it to purchase, for cancellation and/or for holding in treasury, ordinary shares in the market for the period until the conclusion of the Company's Annual General Meeting to be held in 2013, up to a maximum number of 9,369,598 ordinary shares (representing approximately 10 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital as at 10 April 2012) upon the terms set out in the resolution. A purchase of the proposed maximum of 9,369,598 ordinary shares at the share price of 72.25p on 11 April 2012 would involve the Company in the expenditure of approximately £6,769,534 before stamp duty and commissions, and at the minimum permitted price would involve the expenditure, on the same basis, of £468,480.
As at 10 April 2012, there were outstanding options to subscribe for a total of 6,306,542 ordinary shares in the Company, representing approximately 6.7 per cent of the Company's issued ordinary share capital at that time. If the Company was to exercise in full the proposed authority to purchase its own shares and the Company's issued ordinary share capital remained unchanged, the shares for which there are outstanding options to subscribe would represent approximately 7.5 per cent. of the Company's issued ordinary share capital as reduced by those purchases.
In seeking this authority the Board is not indicating any commitment to purchase ordinary shares. The directors would use the share purchase authority with discretion and purchases would only be made from funds not required for other purposes and in the light of market conditions prevailing at the time. In reaching a decision to purchase the ordinary shares, the directors would take account of the Company's cash resources and capital, the effect of such purchase on the Company's business, any impact on earnings per ordinary share or on net tangible assets per ordinary share. No announcement will be made by the Company in advance of market purchases but any purchases made by the Company would be announced by 7.30 a.m. on the business day next following the transaction.
This resolution is required to reflect the changes made to the Companies Act 2006 by the Shareholders' Rights Regulations which increase the notice period required for general meetings of the Company to 21 days unless shareholders approve a shorter notice period. Before the coming into force of the Shareholders' Rights Regulations in August 2009, the Company was able to call general meetings other than an AGM on 14 clear days' notice without obtaining such shareholder approval. In order to preserve this ability, Resolution 14, which is proposed as a Special Resolution, seeks such
approval. AGMs will continue to be held on at least 21 clear days' notice. The approval will be effective until the Company's next AGM, when it is intended that a similar resolution will be proposed The Board will only utilise the authority to hold meetings on less than 21 clear days' notice where it considers it to be in the best interests of shareholders.
This resolution deals with the adoption of new Articles of Association to reflect two recent corporate governance developments.
Article 91 of the existing Articles of Association will be amended so that each director shall retire at the AGM every year. Each director may offer himself for re-election. At present, the Articles of Association require directors to retire by rotation every three years. Whilst the directors currently voluntarily submit themselves for re-election at each annual general meeting in accordance with the recommendations for FTSE350 companies set out in the UK Corporate Governance Code, the board considers it prudent to amend the Company's Articles of Association to specifically require the retirement of each member of the board on an annual basis.
Article 65 of the existing Articles of Association will be amended so that a poll will be called on all resolutions at general meetings of the Company. The directors believe that a poll is more representative of shareholders' voting intentions because shareholders' votes are counted according to the number of ordinary shares held and all votes tendered are taken into account. The results of any poll will be announced through a Regulatory Information Service and placed on the Company's website www.tribalgroup.com as soon as practicable following the close of the relevant general meeting.
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