LONDON (Alliance News) - The largest shareholder in JKX Oil & Gas PLC has blocked the majority of resolutions proposed by the company at the annual general meeting held Tuesday from being passed as the company begins to assess the possible implications for the business.
JKX Oil said only two of the seven ordinary resolutions and one of the four special resolutions that were proposed to shareholders at the AGM were passed on Tuesday, with JKX Oil stating that the "main shareholder" voting against the proposals was Eclairs Group Ltd.
Eclairs is by far the largest shareholder in the company with a 27.47% stake in the business.
The two ordinary resolutions that were passed, with well over 99.9% of the vote, will see Pricewaterhousecoopers LLP reappointed as auditors of the business and allow the board to continue managing the remuneration of PwC.
The special resolution that was passed, with just shy of 99.9% of the vote, will require any future general meetings to be called at least 14 days in advance.
All of the other resolutions failed to gain the required shareholder support, only managing to gather support from 46% to 49% of the votes cast.
That means shareholders have voted against the majority of proposals, including the director's remuneration report, the renewal of the remuneration policy and against the election of Non-Executive Directors Alan Bigman and Bernie Sucher.
The pair were only appointed to the board in early April and although shareholders have voted against their election, JKX Oil said Tuesday that it has re-appointed them to the board anyway because the "independent oversight of the company is vital for the benefit of all shareholders".
Sucher is an independent member of the board of directors of both the Credit Bank of Moscow and Chairman of UFG Asset Management whilst Bigman is a director of Sanchez Production Partners and co-founder and Director of Vista Tex Energy LLC in the US.
Bigman was appointed as the chairman of the audit committee. Sucher was also a member of that committee but was also put in charge of JKX Oil's remuneration committee as well.
"The board will continue to assess the implications of these votes and will consult with shareholders and will make further announcements as necessary," said JKX.
The special resolutions that failed to pass mean the JKX Oil board have not been given the power to issue shares worth up to a total of GBP5.7 million and to conduct an additional rights issue using shares worth an equal amount. The board have also failed to gain support to make market purchases of JKX Oil shares.
JKX Oil shares closed flat at 17.0 pence per share on Tuesday.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.