The Board endeavours to present a balanced and understandable assessment of the Group’s position and prospects in all of its communications with shareholders.
The Board considers communications with shareholders, whether large or small, external or employee, to be extremely important. The Group holds periodic meetings with representatives of major institutional shareholders, other fund managers and representatives of the financial press.
The programme of investor relations includes presentations in London of the full-year and interim results and meetings with institutional investors in the UK and overseas. Investor and analyst feedback is sought after presentations to ensure key strategies, market trends and actions being taken are being effectively communicated and shareholder objectives are known. During the year, written responses are given to letters or e-mails received from shareholders and all shareholders receive interim and annual reports or the summary annual report. Each shareholder is given the opportunity to elect which document they require and this allows our reporting to be more focused towards the needs of individual shareholders. Information is also available on the Group’s website ( http://www.stagecoachgroup.com).
The Board receives regular updates on the views of shareholders through briefings from the Chairman and the Executive Directors, reports from the Company’s brokers and reports from the Company’s Financial PR consultants. The Senior Independent Non-Executive Director is available to shareholders where contact through the normal channels is inappropriate, or has failed to resolve concerns.
The Group holds periodic meetings with its principal shareholders. The Board receives regular updates on the views of shareholders through briefings from the Chairman and the Executive Directors, reports from the Company’s brokers and reports from the Company’s Financial PR consultants. The Senior Independent Non-Executive Director is available to shareholders where contact through the normal channels is inappropriate, or has failed to resolve concerns.
Private and institutional shareholders are welcome to attend and participate at the Annual General Meeting and any Extraordinary General Meetings. The Group aims to ensure that all Directors, including the chairmen of the Audit, Remuneration, Nomination and Health, Safety and Environmental Committees are available at the Annual General Meeting to answer questions. The Annual General Meeting provides an opportunity for shareholders to question the Chairman and other Directors on a variety of topics and further information is provided at the Annual General Meeting on the Group’s principal business activities. It is the Company’s policy to propose a separate resolution at the Annual General Meeting for each substantially separate issue. Resolutions are proposed annually in respect of the financial statements, and the Remuneration report. At each Annual General Meeting, the Chairman reports, after each show of hands, details of all proxy votes lodged for and against each resolution, and the number of abstentions. Details of the proxy votes are also published on the Group’s website at http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/ir/shareholder/agm/ . The Company and its Registrars have established procedures to ensure that votes cast are properly received and recorded.
