By Sam Pearse
22.04.2020
Summary
- AGMS for UK-incorporated public limited companies can and should still go ahead during the lockdown.
- Companies should take advantage of any flexibility in their articles of association to hold meetings either virtually or partly in-person and partly virtually.
- Companies can still hold AGMs even if their articles of association have not been amended to take advantage of the flexibility available to them, however they should consider amending their articles of association for subsequent years.
- Shareholders will be able to vote using proxy forms but should expect to have less opportunity for Q&A.
Introduction
The annual general meeting (AGM) season is upon us. English company law requires public limited companies (English private companies do not have to hold AGMs, and most dispensed with them once the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) came into force) to hold their AGMs to be held within six months of the financial year end. With most public companies closing their books on 31 December, that means that the bulk of the AGMs need to be concluded before 30 June with notices calling the meetings being sent out by early June.
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