REG - Safestore Hldgs plc - Result of AGM

Safestore HoldingsAnnouncement

15/03/2023 18:00

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RNS Number : 1308T  Safestore Holdings plc  15 March 2023

 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%                                             86.56%

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         396,665

                                                                                                                                                                    188,320,539
 2   To approve the Directors' Remuneration Report                                    140,636,482          74.66%           47,726,385                25.34%                                            86.58%

                                                                                                                                                                    188,362,867                                                          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%                                             86.73%

                                                                                                                                                                    188,705,131                                                          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                                                                   3,599,728                                         188,705,960             86.73%                                         11,244

                                                                                                                                                      1.91%

                                                                               185,106,232                 98.09%
 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  172,902,112                 91.63%           15,804,048                8.37%                     188,706,160             86.73%                                         11,044
     called on not less than 14 clear days' notice meetings

 

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  020 7457 2020

 Guy Scarborough

 Bryn Woodward

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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