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Thu March 28 2024

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You don’t get to pick our chairman, Mears board tells shareholder

12 Jul 18 The battle for the board of maintenance contractor Mears has taken another turn with the disgruntled German shareholder now seeking not just to oust the sitting chairman but to choose his replacement.

Mears chairman Bob Holt
Mears chairman Bob Holt

But the Mears board says that the company rules don’t allow that.

Frankfurt-based Shareholder Value Management (SVM), which owns 8.9% of Mears, last week requisitioned a shareholder meeting to vote on a resolution to remove chairman Bob Holt from the board and bring in a new non-executive director, Andy Hogarth, former CEO of recruitment agency Staffline. It thinks the long-serving chairman is in the way of change and wants fresh blood.

Under Companies Act rules, Mears has 21 days to call the general meeting from receipt of the requisition on 4th July.

But SVM has now submitted a second resolution that it wants put to shareholders: that its man Andy Hogarth should be made chairman, not just director.

The Mears board said today that while it will put the proposal to sack Bob Holt to a shareholder vote, as it must, the selection of a new chairman will not be put to shareholders.

It said: “The company's articles of association are clear that the appointment of the chairman is a matter for the board to determine. The company has therefore concluded that the proposed resolution would be ineffective if passed and accordingly the resolution will not be put to the company's shareholders at the general meeting to be called pursuant to the requisition.”

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MPU
MPU

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