Group Press Releases
Results of Annual General Meeting
14 June 2006
Aegis Group plc ("Aegis" or the "Company") announces that at its annual general meeting today, shareholders voting in person or by proxy approved the resolutions numbered 1 to 11 and did not approve resolutions numbered 12 to 15. Details of the specific voting on each resolution are given at the end of this announcement.
- Resolutions 1 to 11 related to usual business items such as approving the accounts and dividend for 2005, re-electing certain existing directors and re-appointing auditors. All of these resolutions were passed, in accordance with the Board's recommendation;
- Resolutions 12 and 13 related to the power to allot shares for cash and to make on-market repurchases of shares. These resolutions required a 75% majority vote to be passed. Despite renewing these powers annually for several years previously, the Company has not exercised the authorities given by these resolutions in recent years and had no plans to do so.
As the Board has stated previously, the fact that these resolutions were not passed will not affect the day to day operation of the Company's business; and - Resolutions 14 and 15 related to the nominations by Groupe Bollore of two individuals proposed to become directors of the Company. In accordance with the Board's recommendation, these resolutions were not passed.
- More than 76% of eligible votes were cast at the meeting, with 94% of the votes not controlled by Groupe Bollore being cast against the two resolutions proposed by that shareholder.
Lord Sharman, Chairman of Aegis, said:
"We are pleased that all of the vital elements of today's business were concluded in line with the Board's recommendation. In particular, the voting on two of today's resolutions confirmed an important point of corporate governance principle. We thank shareholders for their support.
"Given the good level of turnout and the strong support shown for the Board's position, we hope that the suggestion of board representation for a single shareholder so closely connected to a competitor can now be put behind us.
"From here it is business as usual: so far as we are concerned this was a single disagreement about a single issue of principle and we remain committed to an open and frank dialogue with all of our shareholders, including Groupe Bollore. In the mean time, we will continue to run the Company to build outstanding value for all our shareholders."
For further information contact:
Charlotte Elston
Aegis Group plc
+44 (0) 20 7070 7708
Tim Spratt
Financial Dynamics
+44 (0) 20 7831 3113
