Dialight plc (3HQ.F) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. This is Richard Allan, the Company's Secretary at Dialight. This is the Dialight dial-in line for the Dialight 2020 AGM. Our apologies for the arrangements for the AGM, which had been necessitated by the COVID-19 situation. The proxy voting deadline expired on Monday and all proxies have now been tallied. The registrars, Equiniti are not attending during direct contact [indiscernible] need throughout the meeting and we'll be responsible providing the definitive voting results. I will now hand over to David Blood, who will open the meeting.

Good morning to all those listening, and thank you for joining us in what certainly is the most unusual Annual General Meeting I've ever attended in my very long career. I'm David Blood, the Chairman of Dialight, and I'd like to welcome you to the 2020 Annual General Meeting of Dialight plc. It's now just past 11:30 and I declare the meeting open. As set out in the notice of meeting, for those of you dialing in, you will not be able to participate actively in the meeting by voting on the resolutions or asking questions. Listening to the proceedings today does not mean you are formally attending as a shareholder at this meeting. However, we are very delighted that you have joined us. I'm joined by Fariyal Khanbabi, our Chief Executive; and Richard Allan, our Company Secretary. I confirm the meeting is quorate being 2 members present in person or by proxy and entitled to vote, and is therefore present and we can proceed with the meeting. Given the unusual meeting arrangements, there will be no formal presentation or review of this year's performance. Instead, I urge you to refer to our annual report of accounts of 2019 and to our website for past and current information on our performance and to the latest trading updates released in April. There were 2 of them. I would now like to ask Fariyal to respond to some questions we received in advance. Fariyal?

Thank you, David. The first question was received from Mr. Robertson. The question is, the strategy section of the group chief executive review in the latest annual report describes a number of the product developments that take -- that taken together, are intended to enhance the [ scale ] of our products in existing markets and expand the number of markets addressed. Please describe the degree to which development plan goals are being achieved, and the extent to which client market reaction is occurring? So in response to that question, as you know, we've launched 3 major products in 2019. The response from the market has indeed been coveted. These were launched in the second half of 2019, and actually, one of them has actually won 2 Industrial Design Awards. These products are focused very much on the less hazardous and for our existing customer base. And we expect once COVID-19 is over, we would expect further uptake from these. And the key thing with these product development is the technology that we developed in these products, especially the power supply, will enable us to integrate these into our existing product portfolio. The second question is from [ Dr. Lacey], and it is, the last dividend paid by the company was in 2015, 5 years ago. This was based on a period ending 31 December, 2014. Would the Chairman Board please clarify the company's dividend policy. And when can shareholders expect to see a dividend being paid? I mean as you're aware, the group has been through a couple of years of turbulence with the outsourced manufacturing contract and the in-sourcing again. The Board's policy is to a strong capital base, and we are committed to returning excess funds via future dividends. However, we're unable in the current crisis to provide a time line for that.

Okay. Well, thank you very much for taking the time to write in the questions. Again, we acknowledge this is quite an unusual circumstance. I would now like start the formal business of the Annual General Meeting. The notice of meeting, together with the explanatory notes, was posted to shareholders on the 9 April, 2020. I will take the notice of meeting as read, and let us begin the voting. The voting today will be conducted by way of poll on each of the resolutions put to the meeting. I'm appointing Equiniti, the company's registrars to act as the scrutineers. I am not able to show you a breakdown of the proxy votes received by 11:30 a.m. on Monday, 11th of May, for each of the resolutions, but I can confirm all the resolutions were successfully passed. The full text of each of the resolutions is set out in the notice of meeting. The final results of the voting will be announced through a regulatory information service and published on our website after the conclusion of this meeting. We'll now proceed to vote on the resolutions, which I will formally propose to the meeting. Resolutions 1 to 14 are proposed as ordinary resolutions and require a simple majority of over 50% to be passed. Resolutions 15 to 19 are proposed as special resolutions, which are to be passed with a majority of at least 75% to vote in favor of the resolution. I propose that the ordinary resolutions as set out in the notice of meeting be passed, and my proposal is seconded by Fariyal. The resolution in respect of my reappointment is proposed by Fariyal and seconded by Richard. I propose that the special resolution, Resolutions 15 to 19 as set out on the notice of meetings as special resolutions be passed by my proposal and is second by Fariyal. [ voting ] This successfully concludes the business of the meeting. Thank you for the interest -- for your interest in our Annual General Meeting. Again, we recognize that this is quite unusual. I declare the meeting closed. Results of the meeting will be announced to the market through our regulatory information service and posted on our website as soon as practical. I'd like to thank all our shareholders for their cooperation and understanding during these challenging times, and look forward to returning to full shareholder engagement as soon as possible. Please stay safe and well. Thank you, everyone.