Smith & Nephew plc (LON:SN), the global medical technology business, has today announced the following changes to the format of its Annual General Meeting to be held at 2:00pm on Thursday, 9 April 2020.
Further to UK Government instructions issued on Monday, 23 March 2020 and the closure of the venue until further notice, Shareholders must not attend the AGM in person.
The AGM will be convened with the minimum necessary quorum of two shareholders (which will be facilitated by Smith+Nephew). All valid proxy votes (whether submitted electronically or in hard copy form) will be included in the poll to be taken at the meeting.
Shareholders are urged to register their proxy appointment electronically via Smith+Nephew’s Registrar’s website at www.investorcentre.co.uk/eproxy by 2.00pm on Tuesday, 7 April 2020. If shareholders prefer to return a hard copy Form of Proxy, they should do so in accordance with the instructions on the Form, which was distributed with the Notice of Meeting. Where necessary, you should contact the registered shareholder (the custodian or broker) who looks after your investments in the Company on your behalf, in order to vote your shares.
The Board recommends voting in favour of all the resolutions contained in the Notice of AGM as, in the Board’s opinion, they are in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole.
The Board understands that beyond voting on the formal business of the meeting, the AGM also serves as a forum for shareholders to raise questions and comments to the Board.
Therefore, following the AGM, the Board will hold an Audiocast meeting at 3:00pm on Thursday, 9 April 2020 for registered shareholders and their corporate representatives or proxies. This will include a short presentation from Roland Diggelmann, Chief Executive Officer and then Roberto Quarta, Chair of Smith & Nephew plc, who will respond to questions submitted prior to the meeting.
Registered shareholders may submit their questions by email to [email protected].
The dial-in and login details in order to attend the Audiocast meeting are being sent directly to registered shareholders.
The presentation will also be available on the Smith+Nephew website after the meeting.