#479414
Postby naam » February 9th, 2022, 4:26 am
Preference shares
As at the date of this document, the issued share capital of the company comprises 43,950,529 ordinary shares (of which 132,500 are held as treasury shares) and 72,000,000 preference shares. As the dividend in respect of the preference shares is more than six months in arrears, each preference share currently confers upon the holder the right to vote at general meetings of the company. The voting rights attaching to shares of the company generally exercisable at general meetings of the company thus total 115,818,029 as at the date of this document, with a total of 43,818,029 votes exercisable in respect of the ordinary shares and 72,000,000 exercisable in respect of the preference shares. Holders of preference shares will retain their enhanced voting rights until the arrears of preference dividend are cleared.
The company paid the preference dividend accruing in respect of the year ended 31 December 2022 (9p per preference share) together with 1p per share of arrears of dividend, thus reducing the aggregate arrears from £12,960,000 to £12,240,000. As previously announced, the directors intend that, in addition to paying the preference dividend accruing in respect of the current year ending 31 December 2022, the company will also pay not less than 10p per share (£7,200,000 in aggregate) of arrears of dividend during the course of the current year.
Also as previously announced, the directors plan to increase this amount of 10p per preference share if (i) expectations regarding recovery of group loans to ATP are, as remains hoped, confirmed, (ii) the group's oil palm operations continue to perform satisfactorily, (iii) the proposed extension of the redemption date for the dollar notes becomes effective and (iv) sufficient of the outstanding dollar notes remain in (or, in the case of dollar notes purchased by REA Services pursuant to the sale facility, can be re-sold by REA Services into) public hands.