Last checked at 7 Jul 2022 14:30
J Sainsbury plc
(the Company)
Results of AGM
Following the Annual General Meeting held today, J Sainsbury plc announces the results of the poll vote for each resolution. The Board was pleased to see all resolutions approved by shareholders except Resolution 21. Resolution 21 was a Special Resolution submitted by a small group of shareholders, co-ordinated by ShareAction, directing the Company to become a Living Wage accredited employer.
The Board firmly believes the Company must preserve the right to make independent business decisions which are not determined by an external organisation and therefore did not support resolution 21.
Resolution 21 required 75 per cent of votes in favour to pass. It received 16.7 per cent of votes and was therefore overwhelmingly rejected by shareholders.
Commenting on the ShareAction resolution, Martin Scicluna, Chairman of Sainsbury's said:
"We are proud to have led the way on colleague pay in our industry for the past five years and to pay our colleagues the living wage regardless of where they work in the country."
"We would like to thank our shareholders for their overwhelming votes of support and confidence in how Simon and his team are running the business. We believe very strongly in paying people well for the excellent job they do for our customers every single day. We also believe that we need to make all business investment decisions independently and that these decisions should not be outsourced to a third party."
| Votes For | % of Votes Cast | Votes Against | % of Votes Cast | Votes cast | Votes cast as a % of ISC | Votes Withheld1 | |
1 | To receive and adopt the Company's audited Annual Report and Financial Statements for the 52 weeks to 5 March 2022, together with the Reports of the Directors and auditor | 1,808,534,797 | 99.99 | 113,567 | 0.01 | 1,808,648,364 | 77.17% | 3,767,093 |
2 | To approve the Annual Report on Remuneration | 1,770,454,195 | 98.53 | 26,472,313 | 1.47 | 1,796,926,508 | 76.67% | 15,487,949 |
3 | To declare a final dividend of 9.9 pence per ordinary share in respect of the 52 weeks to 5 March 2022 | 1,811,301,047 | 99.99 | 258,825 | 0.01 | 1,811,559,872 | 77.29% | 855,585 |
4 | To elect Jo Bertram as a Director | 1,794,404,993 | 99.07 | 16,869,476 | 0.93 | 1,811,274,469 | 77.28% | 1,140,988 |
5 | To re-elect Brian Cassin as a Director | 1,769,281,401 | 97.68 | 42,044,555 | 2.32 | 1,811,325,956 | 77.28% | 1,089,501 |
6 | To re-elect Jo Harlow as a Director | 1,764,497,419 | 97.60 | 43,303,205 | 2.40 | 1,807,800,624 | 77.13% | 4,614,804 |
7 | To re-elect Adrian Hennah as a Director | 1,757,913,309 | 97.05 | 53,417,031 | 2.95 | 1,811,330,340 | 77.28% | 1,084,918 |
8 | To re-elect Tanuj Kapilashrami as a Director | 1,768,748,163 | 97.65 | 42,538,320 | 2.35 | 1,811,286,483 | 77.28% | 1,128,974 |
9 | To re-elect Kevin O'Byrne as a Director | 1,809,359,373 | 99.89 | 1,959,715 | 0.11 | 1,811,319,088 | 77.28% | 1,096,198 |
10 | To re-elect Simon Roberts as a Director | 1,810,579,186 | 99.96 | 729,377 | 0.04 | 1,811,308,563 | 77.28% | 1,106,894 |
11 | To re-elect Martin Scicluna as a Director | 1,754,846,666 | 96.88 | 56,480,483 | 3.12 | 1,811,327,149 | 77.28% | 1,088,079 |
12 | To re-elect Keith Weed as a Director | 1,769,264,042 | 97.68 | 42,060,482 | 2.32 | 1,811,324,524 | 77.28% | 1,087,579 |
13 | To re-appoint Ernst & Young LLP as auditor | 1,807,846,519 | 99.81 | 3,493,688 | 0.19 | 1,811,340,207 | 77.28% | 1,075,221 |
14 | To authorise the Audit Committee to determine the auditor's remuneration | 1,810,160,557 | 99.93 | 1,232,064 | 0.07 | 1,811,392,621 | 77.29% | 1,022,836 |
15 | Directors' general authority to allot shares | 1,754,340,631 | 96.85 | 57,059,589 | 3.15 | 1,811,400,220 | 77.29% | 1,008,365 |
16 | Directors' general authority to disapply pre-emption rights without restriction as to use (Special Resolution) | 1,805,793,118 | 99.72 | 5,155,690 | 0.28 | 1,810,948,808 | 77.27% | 1,466,649 |
17 | Authority to disapply pre-emption rights for acquisitions or specified capital investments (Special Resolution) | 1,735,381,190 | 95.83 | 75,553,648 | 4.17 | 1,810,934,838 | 77.27% | 1,479,035 |
18 | To authorise the Company to make 'political donations' and incur 'political expenditure' | 1,463,294,053 | 99.58 | 6,167,956 | 0.42 | 1,469,462,009 | 62.70% | 342,955,413 |
19 | To authorise the Company to purchase its own shares (Special Resolution) | 1,806,726,684 | 99.80 | 3,538,810 | 0.20 | 1,810,265,494 | 77.24% | 2,149,891 |
20 | To authorise the Company to call a general meeting on not less than 14 clear days' notice (Special Resolution) | 1,690,202,105 | 93.31 | 121,229,131 | 6.69 | 1,811,431,236 | 77.29% | 984,075 |
21 | Shareholder Resolution on Living Wage accreditation (Special Resolution) | 294,523,005 | 16.69 | 1,470,491,308 | 83.31 | 1,765,014,313 | 75.31% | 47,414,289 |
1A vote withheld is not a vote under English law and is therefore not included in the calculation of votes for and against a resolution.
The total number of voting rights as at 7 July 2021 was 2,343,771,411 shares of 284/7 pence.
In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.2, copies of the resolutions that do not constitute ordinary business at an annual general meeting will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.
A copy of the voting results shown above will also be made available on the Company's website at https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/investors/shareholder-information/agm.
Investor Relations Enquiries | Media Enquiries |
James Collins | Rebecca Reilly |
+44 (0) 20 7695 0080 | +44 (0) 20 7695 7295
|