GVC Holdings PLC (LON:GVC), the global sports betting and gaming group, is today holding its Annual General Meeting at 10.00am (CET) at GVC’s office in Gibraltar.
Barry Gibson, Chairman of GVC, commented:
“While it is disappointing not to be able to hold a physical AGM for shareholders, safety is of course paramount as we continue to follow government guidelines to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Board looks forward to getting together in person with shareholders later in the year at a shareholder engagement forum in the UK, regulations permitting.
As sports events were cancelled and retail outlets were closed in mid-March, GVC responded swiftly and decisively achieving our target of operating at cash neutral through the period. We also increased our financial flexibility through a relaxation of the covenants on our Revolving Credit Facility.
Throughout the period our online gaming businesses continued to trade strongly, and as we see the resumption of sporting events across our business our sport volumes are returning in-line with expectations. Our retail outlets in England have now been open for a little over a week, albeit with extensive social distancing measures in place, and we are encouraged by the early signs as customers return to the high street. As a result, GVC is well positioned to emerge from this period in a position of financial and operational strength.
GVC’s recent elevation to the FTSE 100 is a key landmark in the Company’s extraordinary success story, the main drivers of which have been a combination of its industry-leading proprietary technology platform as well as its outstanding products, brands, marketing capabilities and people.
We continue to embed the highest standards of governance across the business as an integral part of our day-to-day activities. Providing our customers with products and services that they can use in a safe and enjoyable environment is our guiding light, as well as protecting the small number of those customers who may be at risk. We are constantly evolving and improving our safer gambling policies, procedures and technologies. As ever, we are committed to working closely with regulators to ensure that any changes in legislation will be evidence-based, carefully considered and focused on good outcomes for customers, improving player safety and limiting problem gambling, rather than knee-jerk decisions that could end up inadvertently damaging player safety.
While the economic outlook around the world remains uncertain, the resilience of our performance during this hugely challenging period and the extraordinary loyalty, dedication and hard work that our teams around the world are showing mean that we remain as confident as ever in GVC’s long-term prospects.”
A trading update for the first half of the 2020 financial year will be issued on 16 July 2020.
AGM procedures
Given the ongoing restrictions on travel as a result of COVID-19, the Board decided to proceed with a restricted AGM, as set out in the AGM Notice (https://gvc-plc.com/investor-relations/shareholder-information/shareholder-notices/) that was sent to shareholders on 22 May 2020. The AGM will just deal with the formal business of voting on the 20 shareholder resolutions, with minimal attendance to minimise the danger to people’s health and respect social distancing requirements. This is an approach that UK listed companies have been taking with their annual general meetings since March when the lockdown in the UK was implemented. In light of the current dangers to health, shareholders are politely requested not to attend the AGM but have been strongly encouraged to lodge their votes.
Peter Isola, an independent Non-Executive Director and Gibraltar resident, will chair the AGM and act as proxy for those shareholders who have submitted votes by proxy. The AGM vote on the 20 resolutions set out in the AGM Notice will be held by a poll, so all votes cast by shareholders will be counted. The voting results will be released via the London Stock Exchange and published on the Company’s corporate website https://gvc-plc.com/ later today.
Shareholders can email any questions to [email protected] and the Board will then endeavour to respond, with answers being posted on the GVC corporate website. Subject to the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing impact on the UK, the Board intends to hold a Shareholder Engagement Forum in the UK in the fourth quarter of 2020. This will be an opportunity for the Board to update shareholders further, and for shareholders to put questions to the Board in person. GVC Holdings will write to shareholders separately about this event in due course.
