Last checked at 22 Apr 2024 15:39
Ascential plc
Results of General Meeting
Ascential plc ("Ascential") is pleased to announce the results of voting on the resolutions at its general meeting held at 1:00 p.m. (U.K. time) today (the "General Meeting").
On 4 April 2024, Ascential published a shareholder circular (including the notice of the General Meeting) (the "Circular"), announcing the details of the proposed return of value of £850 million to shareholders through:
● a tender offer to acquire up to £300 million of Ascential's shares (the "Tender Offer");
● a special dividend of at least £450 million (the "Special Dividend"); and
● on-market share buyback programmes to acquire £100 million of Ascential's shares.
The General Meeting was held to invite shareholders to consider the resolutions in connection with the Tender Offer and a consolidation and division of Ascential's issued share capital to accompany the Special Dividend (the "Share Consolidation"), as described in the Circular.
Ascential is pleased to announce that both the special resolution to approve the Tender Offer and the ordinary resolution to approve the Share Consolidation were duly passed by the requisite majority of Ascential's shareholders. The results of the votes are shown in the table below and will also be available on Ascential's website.
Resolution | Votes For | Votes Against | Total Votes Cast (Excluding votes withheld) | Votes withheld | |||
| Number of shares | % | Number of shares | % | Number of shares | % of relevant shares in issue | Number of shares |
To approve the Tender Offer | 253,338,869 | 98.55 | 3,722,170 | 1.45 | 257,061,039 | 57.67% | 2,696 |
To approve the Share Consolidation | 257,055,292 | 100.00 | 5,746 | 0.00 | 257,061,038 | 57.67% | 2,697 |
The total voting rights of Ascential as at 6:30 p.m. (U.K. time) on 18 April 2024, the time by which shareholders wanting to attend, speak and vote at the General Meeting were required to be entered on Ascential's register of members, was 445,765,527 ordinary shares of 1 pence each. Ascential does not hold any shares in treasury.
Any vote that gave the Chairman discretion has been included in the 'For' votes. A vote withheld is not a vote in law and is not counted towards the votes cast 'For' or 'Against' a resolution.
In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.2R, a copy of the resolutions will shortly be available for inspection at the National Storage Mechanism document viewing facility at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.
Contact Information
Ascential plc Philip Thomas Mandy Gradden Rory Elliott |
Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer Investor Relations Director |
+44 (0)20 7516 5000 |
Media enquiries Matt Dixon Jamie Ricketts Edward Bridges |
FTI Consulting LLP |
+44 (0)20 3727 1000 |