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FTSE 350 AGM developments from 13 April 2023 to 20 April 2023.*

The Market Tracker ‘AGM season 2023—Week in review’ series looks at key developments across the AGMs held each week. In this first update, the Market Tracker team reviews results from British American Tobacco plc, Haleon plc, Hunting plc, Primary Health Properties plc, RELX plc, and SEGRO plc.

Meeting format tracker**

Physical meetings accounted for 66% of the AGMs held this week, where the only option for shareholder attendance was at a specified location. Despite the trend back to physical meetings, some companies are still hosting hybrid or virtual meetings. For example, Hunting opted for a hybrid format and Haleon chose an entirely virtual meeting. 

For more on recent developments surrounding meeting format see our recent blog post: Share Your Voice campaign—a bold attempt to revolutionise shareholder democracy.

Key developments

British American Tobacco plc (BAT)

• 7% of investors voted against BAT’s resolution to ‘make political donations to political organisations and to incur political expenditure.’ BAT does not make political contributions in the UK or the EU. However, it has made to the ‘free-market think tank’, the Institute of Economic Affairs since 1963. BAT disclosed in its 2022 that its American based subsidiary, Reynolds American, donated over £4m to US political organisations
• BAT announced at its it will begin to provide ‘a range of reduced-risk alternatives to cigarettes.’ The move to vapes and e-cigarettes is a significant milestone for British American Tobacco as it attempts to generate revenue from ‘non-combustible’ products, thereby ‘reducing the health impact of our business’&²Ô²ú²õ±è;

Hunting plc

• gas and oil supplier, Hunting, saw 12% of investors vote against the remuneration report. Remuneration at the company in 2022 almost doubled from the figures reported in 2021. The outlines 2022 executive remuneration at over £3.4m (USD $4.2m), while it was only £1.9m (USD $2.3m) in 2021

Primary Health Properties plc (PHP)

• healthcare real estate investment trust, PHP, saw happy investors across the board as all resolutions were duly passed. The results reflected a for the company in 2022, ‘with rent review completions generating £3.0 million of additional annualised income, an increase of 50% over 2021’

RELX plc

• information and analytics company, RELX, strong growth throughout all business areas, with underlying growth at +9%. As a result, RELX was met with passive shareholders at its AGM. RELX also a £250m share buyback programme, which follows the successful completion of a £200m non-discretionary programme on 19 April 2023

SEGRO plc

• property investment company, SEGRO, was hit with shareholder dissent against two special resolutions. 15% of investors voted against the resolution to disapply pre-emption rights in connection with an acquisition or specified capital investment, while 11% of investors voted against the resolution to enable a general meeting to be held on not less than 14 days’ notice

Significant no votes 

Significant no votes will be tracked in the table below as the season progresses. 

Failed resolutions

Failed resolutions will be tracked in the table below as the season progresses. 

* statement of scope: AGM results must be released by 4pm on the day of publishing to be included. AGM results released after this time will be included in the following review

**  the data tracked in this series will be updated weekly on an aggregate basis