Result of AGM

RNS Number : 5238Y

Standard Life plc

17 May 2016

 

Standard Life plc

Results of Annual General Meeting 

Standard Life plc's Annual General Meeting ('AGM') took place this afternoon, Tuesday 17 May 2016, in London.  In his speech, the Company's Chairman, Sir Gerry Grimstone:

·     Reiterated Standard Life's position on the European Referendum:

"We believe that access to the EU Single Market is in the best interests of our customers and clients.  The Single Market has created an environment that gives individuals and businesses the confidence to invest for the long term and it would be potentially damaging to the UK economy and therefore to companies such as Standard Life if the UK were to leave it."

·     Commented on Directors' Remuneration:

"Operating responsibly means that we should run our company to the standards that as a major investor we rightly expect from others.  This includes how we pay our senior executives.  We must have good people managing our Company who are fairly incentivised in what is a global market place but this doesn't mean we shouldn't be conscious of our societal impact and the views of others. When we appointed Keith Skeoch to replace David Nish last year, the Remuneration Committee restructured his pay to reflect his new responsibilities running both a global investment company and a life assurance business. We believe in pay for performance and although, compared to his predecessor, the variable component was increased, his basic salary was decreased, deferral was lengthened, and shareholding requirements were tightened.

"We also set stretching targets so that the highest levels of reward required very high performance.  The fact is that many of our shareholders agreed with us on this - other's didn't.

"Attitudes towards what is appropriate remuneration constantly evolve and what is right one year isn't necessarily right the next.  We listened to the feedback and discussed what to do.  As a result of this, we announced last week that Keith Skeoch had confirmed to the Chairman of the Remuneration Committee that he had voluntarily decided not to accept the maximum opportunity awarded to him in 2016 under the Standard Life Executive Long-term Incentive Plan and was therefore handing back part of his entitlement. This was absolutely Keith's decision which he volunteered but I personally applaud it as being the right thing to do in the circumstances.

"This change, of course, has come too late to change the Directors' Remuneration Report which you will be voting on today and a number of shareholders have already voted before the change was made.  We will continue to engage with shareholders on these matters".

·     Confirmed the launch of the Standard Life Foundation, using the proceeds from the Unclaimed Asset Trust:

"I am very pleased to announce that we are launching the Standard Life Foundation, which will focus on work that addresses closing the Savings Gap in our society. The Savings Gap is an issue that touches, directly and indirectly, many millions of people in the UK. And it is in this area that the Foundation will work to support public interest research, practical activities and other very worthwhile work too.

"We will be gifting the proceeds of the unclaimed shares, which should be, depending on the share price of course, around £90 million to the Foundation, and it will be one of the largest bodies of its type in the UK."

·     Confirmed that Kevin Parry had been appointed Senior Independent Director to succeed Crawford Gillies, Melanie Gee had been appointed Chairman of the Remuneration Committee to succeed Lynne Peacock and Lynne Peacock had been appointed non-executive Chairman of Standard Life Assurance Limited; and

·     Confirmed the Board's intention to appoint KPMG LLP as its auditor for the year ending 31 December 2017, subject to shareholder approval at the 2017 AGM.

The Board announces that all the resolutions put to its AGM were duly passed.

The results of the polls were as follows:

	For	% For	Against	Total Votes Validly Cast	Votes Withheld
Resolution 1: To receive and consider the Annual Report and Accounts for 2015	843,784,546	99.94	543,015	844,337,561	714,054
Resolution 2: To re-appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors	823,650,708	98.37	13,663,377	837,314,085	7,717,822
Resolution 3: To authorise the audit committee to set the auditors' fees	835,054,452	98.92	9,083,097	844,137,549	910,639
Resolution 4: To declare a final dividend for 2015	843,574,087	99.86	1,176,880	844,750,967	297,019
Resolution 5: To approve the Directors' remuneration report, excluding the remuneration policy	639,048,996	77.69	183,477,683	822,526,679	22,528,635
Resolution 6 (Special): To cancel the capital redemption reserve	838,547,063	99.66	2,892,887	841,439,950	3,607,483
Resolution 7 (Resolution with specified threshold): To authorise a fixed to variable pay ratio exceeding 1:1 but not exceeding 1:2 for Remuneration Code staff	794,257,174	98.07	15,640,235	809,897,409	35,152,581
Resolution 8: To approve the rules of Part B of the Standard Life (Employee) Share Plan	837,130,077	99.37	5,293,591	842,423,668	2,618,921
Resolution 9A: To re-elect Sir Gerald Grimstone as a Director	837,353,514	99.26	6,240,304	843,593,818	1,455,626
Resolution 9B: To re-elect Pierre Danon as a Director	831,997,840	98.64	11,448,298	843,446,138	1,602,122
Resolution 9C: To re-elect Noel Harwerth as a Director	838,291,782	99.39	5,141,085	843,432,867	1,625,860
Resolution 9D: To re-elect Isabel Hudson as a Director	839,003,125	99.47	4,495,786	843,498,911	1,551,090
Resolution 9E: To re-elect Kevin Parry as a Director	837,082,348	99.25	6,345,548	843,427,896	1,622,297
Resolution 9F: To re-elect Lynne Peacock as a Director	806,888,072	98.80	9,831,770	816,719,842	28,319,606
Resolution 9G: To re-elect Martin Pike as a Director	833,912,676	98.88	9,482,722	843,395,398	1,651,605
Resolution 9H: To re-elect Luke Savage as a Director	837,102,129	99.25	6,364,405	843,466,534	1,579,517
Resolution 9I: To re-elect Keith Skeoch as a Director	838,001,090	99.37	5,342,573	843,343,663	1,703,340
Resolution 10A: To elect Colin Clark as a Director	837,907,018	99.39	5,143,243	843,050,261	1,993,110
Resolution 10B: To elect Melanie Gee as a Director	836,680,371	99.23	6,480,687	843,161,058	1,885,945
Resolution 10C: To elect Paul Matthews as a Director	837,874,583	99.38	5,219,637	843,094,220	1,957,158
Resolution 11: To authorise the Directors to issue further shares	832,126,798	98.66	11,275,466	843,402,264	1,644,453
Resolution 12 (Special): To disapply share pre-emption rights	836,053,223	99.29	5,971,696	842,024,919	3,031,113
Resolution 13 (Special): To give authority for the Company to buy back up to 10% of its issued ordinary shares	833,367,254	98.78	10,330,545	843,697,799	1,343,994
Resolution 14: To provide limited authority to the Company and its subsidiaries to make political donations and to incur political expenditure	781,071,203	93.73	52,290,942	833,362,145	11,689,233
Resolution 15 (Special): To allow the Company to call general meetings on 14 days' notice	765,909,610	91.69	69,390,630	835,300,240	9,757,268

The total number of shares in issue at 6pm on Friday 13 May 2016 was 1,975,334,437 ordinary shares of 12²/₉ pence each.

Votes withheld are not a vote in law and have not been counted in the calculation of the votes for and against each resolution, the total votes validly cast or the calculation of the proportion of issued share capital voted.

Copies of all resolutions are available for inspection in the AGM Guide previously submitted to the UK Listing Authority's Document Viewing Facility, via the National Storage Mechanism at www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm

In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.2, copies of the resolutions that do not constitute ordinary business at an annual general meeting will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will then be available for inspection at www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm

The AGM Guide and the voting results are also available on the Standard Life plc website at www.standardlife.com 

17 May 2016

Enquiries:

Group Secretariat Paul McKenna	[phone]*
Media Relations Steve Hartley	[phone]* [phone]
Investor Relations Jakub Rosochowski	[phone]* [phone]

* Calls may be monitored and/or recorded to protect both you and us and help with our training.  Call charges will vary.

END

 

END

 

 

RAGARMFTMBBBBBF