Posting of Annual Report/ Postponement of AGM

RNS Number : 9192H

Murray International Trust PLC

27 March 2020

 

MURRAY INTERNATIONAL TRUST PLC (the "Company")

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI):  549300BP77JO5Y8LM553

27 March 2020

Posting of Annual Report and Financial Statements for Year Ended 31 December 2019

A Copy of the Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2019 has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism ("NSM") and the document will shortly be available for inspection at: www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM .  A Copy of the Annual Report together with the Pre-Investment Disclosure Document (per Article 23 AIFMD/Rule 3.2 FCA FUND Sourcebook) dated 27 March 2020 will also shortly be available for download from the Company's website, www.murray-intl.co.uk .*

*Neither the NSM website nor the Company's website nor the content of any website accessible from hyperlinks on those websites (or any other website) is (or is deemed to be) incorporated into, or forms (or is deemed to form) part of this announcement

Postponement of Annual General Meeting Scheduled for 24 April 2020

The impact of very recent events has superseded some of the information contained in the Annual Report, particularly in relation to the arrangements to hold the Annual General Meeting on 24 April 2020 at the Mermaid Conference Centre in Central London.  Inevitably, given the current and likely future restrictions and guidance on movement, travel, public gatherings and self-isolation, the Board has had to reconsider whether holding the AGM at that time is in the best interests of shareholders, or even possible.

The Company is required by law to hold an AGM. However, the Company's articles do allow for the Board to postpone a general meeting already convened where it considers that it is impractical or undesirable for any reason to hold a general meeting on the date or at the time or place specified in the notice of meeting. Given the advance printing of the Annual Report, it was not possible to remove the Notice of AGM. Therefore, in the light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Board has resolved to make use of this power under the articles and to postpone the AGM. Shareholders should therefore not attend the Mermaid Conference Centre in central London on Friday, 24 April 2020 for the purposes of attending the AGM as the meeting will not now take place.

A fresh notice convening the Company's 2020 AGM will be sent to shareholders in due course in order to convene the meeting at a time or place where the Board considers it can be safely held and shareholders can attend. The Company will also release an RNS announcement and place a statement on its website (www.murray-intl.co.uk) in relation to the revised arrangements.

The Board would also like to highlight that, in the light of the decision to postpone the Company's AGM due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the Board has resolved to pay an additional interim dividend, in lieu of the usual final dividend. Historically, the Company has paid three interim dividends and a final dividend each year, with the final dividend being subject to a shareholder vote (by ordinary resolution) at the AGM each year.  Announcing this dividend as an interim instead of final dividend, means that the payment of the dividend will not be delayed. Accordingly, the Directors are announcing that an interim dividend of 17.5p will be paid on 15 May 2020 to shareholders on the register on 3 April 2020, resulting in a total dividend of 53.5p per share for the year ended 31 December 2019. As this dividend will be announced as an interim dividend, shareholders will not have an opportunity to approve the dividend by ordinary resolution and a resolution to approve a final dividend will not be put to shareholders this year.

Aberdeen Asset Management PLC

Company Secretary

 

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