Last checked at 15 Mar 2023 18:00
15 March 2023
Safestore Holdings plc
("Safestore", "the Company" or "the Group")
Result of Annual General Meeting
Annual General Meeting
The 2023 Annual General Meeting of Safestore Holdings plc was held at midday today at the Company's registered office in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.
All resolutions were passed by the requisite majority by way of a poll.
The following votes were cast in respect of the AGM resolutions:
Resolution | Votes For | % | Votes Against | % |
| Total Votes (excluding withheld) | % of Issued Share Capital Voted | Votes Withheld | |
1 | To receive the Annual Report and Accounts | 188,081,670 | 99.87% | 238,869 | 0.13% |
188,320,539 | 86.56% |
396,665 | |
2 | To approve the Directors' Remuneration Report | 140,636,482 | 74.66% | 47,726,385 | 25.34% |
188,362,867 | 86.58% |
354,337 | |
3 | To appoint Deloitte LLP as auditor | 187,941,338 | 99.85% | 288,793 | 0.15% | 188,230,131 | 86.52% | 487,073 | |
4 | To authorise the Directors to determine the auditors' remuneration | 187,897,590 | 99.57% | 807,541 | 0.43% |
188,705,131 | 86.73% |
12,073 | |
5 | To declare a final dividend of 20.40 pence per ordinary share | 188,382,765 | 99.83% | 323,395 | 0.17% | 188,706,160 | 86.73% | 11,044 | |
6 | To elect Jane Bentall | 188,050,154 | 99.65% | 654,388 | 0.35% | 188,704,542 | 86.73% | 12,662 | |
7 | To re-elect David Hearn as a Director | 167,107,467 | 88.55% | 21,598,575 | 11.45% | 188,706,042 | 86.73% | 11,162 | |
8 | To re-elect Frederic Vecchioli as a Director | 186,013,813 | 98.57% | 2,691,064 | 1.43% | 188,704,877 | 86.73% | 12,327 | |
9 | To re-elect Andy Jones as a Director | 186,742,151 | 98.96% | 1,962,726 | 1.04% | 188,704,877 | 86.73% | 12,327 | |
10 | To elect Gert van de Weerdhof as a Director | 177,512,074 | 94.07% | 11,191,303 | 5.93% | 188,703,377 | 86.73% | 13,827 | |
11 | To re-elect Ian Krieger as a Director | 175,666,204 | 93.10% | 13,014,973 | 6.90% | 188,681,177 | 86.72% | 36,027 | |
12 | To re-elect Laure Duhot as a Director | 177,249,134 | 93.93% | 11,455,743 | 6.07% | 188,704,877 | 86.73% | 12,327 | |
13 | To re-elect Delphine Mousseau as a Director | 182,496,449 | 96.71% | 6,206,928 | 3.29% | 188,703,377 | 86.73% | 13,827 | |
14 | To authorise political donations and political expenditure | 183,902,979 | 97.46% | 4,799,655 | 2.54% | 188,702,634 | 86.73% | 14,570 | |
15 | To authorise the directors to allot relevant securities | 168,212,044 | 89.36% | 20,019,116 | 10.64% | 188,231,160
| 86.52% | 486,044 | |
16 | To authorise the dis-application of pre-emption rights |
185,106,232 |
98.09% | 3,599,728 |
1.91% | 188,705,960 | 86.73% | 11,244 | |
17 | To authorise market purchases of ordinary shares | 187,439,884 | 99.6% | 742,727 | 0.39% | 188,182,611 | 86.49% | 534,593 | |
18 | To authorise general meetings (other than annual general meetings) to be called on not less than 14 clear days' notice meetings | 172,902,112 | 91.63% | 15,804,048 | 8.37% | 188,706,160 | 86.73% | 11,044 |
Resolutions 1 to 15 were ordinary resolutions, requiring more than 50 per cent. of shareholders' votes to be cast in favour of the resolutions. Resolutions 16 to 18 were special resolutions, requiring at least 75 per cent. of shareholders' votes to be cast in favour of the resolutions.
Where shareholders appointed the Chairman of the meeting as their proxy with discretion as to voting, their votes were cast in favour of the resolutions and their shares have been included in the "votes for" column.
A "vote withheld" is not a vote in law and is not counted in the calculation of the percentages of votes cast for and against a resolution.
Commenting on the result of the AGM David Hearn, Chairman of Safestore said:
"The financial results for the year ended 31 October 2022 reported considerable strategic and financial progress for the Group, which was especially impressive on the back of an exceptionally strong year in 2021. I and the Board continue to be impressed by the dedication and resilience of the store and Head Office teams which have been instrumental in delivering this progress. After an almost 87% turnout, I am pleased that all resolutions were duly passed and would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support.
Whilst we received strong support for the Directors' Remuneration Report (Resolution 2), it was only at 74.66%. The Board appreciates that the 2017 Remuneration Policy continues to divide opinion amongst some shareholders, even though it was voted through in 2017. Shareholder engagement indicates that some shareholders who voted against the 2017 Remuneration Policy at its inception, have a policy to vote against all future remuneration reports that reflect the subsequent execution of it. From specific conversations with some of our leading shareholders they have confirmed that their vote against the Remuneration Report does not reflect a vote against either the management or the Board and that they accept fully that the payouts, reflect the outstanding value creation for all shareholders over the past five years which has been a significant benefit to all our stakeholders.
As such, this vote does not represent a vote against Safestore's current Remuneration Policy, which received over-whelming shareholder approval at Safestore's 2020 Annual General Meeting. We are currently engaging with shareholders on the formation of our 2023 Remuneration Policy, which we expect to submit for shareholder approval, at a General Meeting, later this year."
The current issued capital of Safestore Holdings plc is 217,568,672 ordinary shares.
In accordance with LR 9.6.2, copies of the resolutions passed as special business have been submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority's National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism
For further information, please contact:
Instinctif Partners Guy Scarborough Bryn Woodward | 020 7457 2020 |
Notes to Editors
· Safestore is the UK's largest self-storage group with 182 stores on 31 January 2023, comprising 130 wholly owned stores in the UK (including 72 in London and the South East with the remainder in key metropolitan areas such as Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, and Bristol), 29 wholly owned stores in the Paris region, 7 stores in Spain, 10 stores in the Netherlands and 6 stores in Belgium. In addition, the Group operates 7 stores in Germany under a Joint Venture agreement with Carlyle.
· Safestore operates more self-storage sites inside the M25 and in central Paris than any competitor providing more proximity to customers in the wealthiest and more densely populated UK and French markets.
· Safestore was founded in the UK in 1998. It acquired the French business "Une Pièce en Plus" ("UPP") in 2004 which was founded in 1998 by the current Safestore Group CEO Frederic Vecchioli.
· Safestore has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2007. It entered the FTSE 250 index in October 2015.
· The Group provides storage to around 90,000 personal and business customers.
· As of 31 January 2023, Safestore had a maximum lettable area ("MLA") of 7.852 million sq ft (excluding the expansion pipeline stores) of which 6.095 million sq ft was occupied.
· Safestore employs around 750 people in the UK, Paris, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium.