Directorate Changes and 2012 AGM

RNS Number : 2505S

JPMorgan Russian Securities PLC

17 November 2011

 



LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

JPMORGAN RUSSIAN SECURITIES PLC

('the Company')

Directorate Changes and 2012 Annual General Meeting

17 November 2011

In 2012 the Company will mark the 10th Anniversary of its listing on the London Stock Exchange. Since launch the value of the Shares has increased from 100p to 509.0p as at the close of business last night.  The market capitalisation last night was £280 million and the discount was 7.4 per cent. The Company is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

The Board has recently undertaken a review covering a number of factors, including the current management arrangements, fees, discount control policy, secondary market liquidity of the Shares, the investment approach and in particular the recent underperformance against the Company's benchmark.  As part of that review the Board has consulted external advisers and met Shareholders owning over 50 per cent of the Shares to solicit their views on the Company.

The Board has already expressed the view that they would like the Company's Shares to continue to trade at a discount of less than 10% and has implemented a new policy under which the Company intends, subject to market conditions, to buy in Shares at discounts of between 8% and 10% to achieve this. The market capitalisation and liquidity of the Shares are of paramount importance to our Shareholders and the Board believes that active management of the discount is the best mechanism to achieve this.

Additionally, the Board has agreed with J.P.Morgan Asset Management (UK) Limited, that the management fee be reduced to 1.2% on net assets with effect from 1 November 2011.

The Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Gill Nott to the Board of Directors with immediate effect. Mrs. Nott spent the majority of the first 27 years of her career working in the energy sector. In 1994 she became CEO of ProShare. Due to her work in the retail savings sector, she spent six years on the Board of the FSA from 1998 to 2004. Mrs. Nott has held a portfolio of non-executive positions, particularly in the closed-end fund sector, over the last 15 years. She is currently chairman of Witan Pacific Investment Trust plc and a non-executive director of Martin Currie Portfolio Investment Trust plc and BlackRock Smaller Companies Investment Trust plc. Mrs. Nott is also a Deputy Chairman of the Association of Investment Companies.

The Chairman of the Company, Pamela Idelson Smith, will be retiring as a Director after the AGM in early 2012 and a further announcement regarding the new Chairman will be made with the Company's results announcement.

In the light of these changes to the management and governance of the Company, and based on comments received by Shareholders, the Board has also resolved to introduce continuation votes every 5 years and will propose the first continuation resolution at the Annual General Meeting in 2012.  The Board will be recommending that Shareholders support the continuation of the Company.

The Annual General Meeting will be held at 20 Moorgate, London EC2R 6DA on 27 January 2012 and the Annual Report and Accounts are expected to be dispatched to Shareholders on 21 December 2011. The Annual Report and Accounts will set out in greater detail, the changes described above and will outline a refinement of the investment and risk management guidelines to be adopted by the Company which, the Board believes, better aligns the Company's risk and return characteristics with the desires of Shareholders.

For further information:

David Barron /Craig Cleland 

 JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Limited  

0207 742 6000

Will Rogers/Charlie Ricketts

Cenkos Securities plc  

 0207 397 1920/1910

 

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