Wednesday 8 July 2009

M&S shareholders register major protest vote

Well, 37.7% vote in favour, and abstentions probably take the total over 40%. The one bit I got wrong was that the abstentions were actually a pretty small chunk in the end. Stuart Rose said at the meeting that by winning a majority the board took that as an endorsement of its strategy. I'm not sure many shareholders would agree.

In addition if the total is about 40% then this poses some interesting questions for LAPFF. Afterall, one big institution abstaining, or voting in favour of the resolution, might have meant that the board did not win a majority. I can think of one institution in particular which opposed the resolution, whose % holding was indeed enough to have reversed the result.

Remember again that this resolution was really only seeking that the company revert to compliance with the Combined Code by this time next year. So the explanation for oppose votes will be interesting.

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