Tritax Big Box REIT plc (BBOX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Tritax Big Box REIT plc Annual General Meeting. My name is Bethany, and I'll be coordinating your call today. I will now hand over to your host, Karen Whitworth, the Chair of the meeting. Karen, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's now just after 10:00, and I'm pleased to welcome you to the 2020 Annual General Meeting of Tritax Big Box REIT plc. May I also welcome all those shareholders who are listening in by telephone. As there's a quorum present, which comprises myself and Hana Beard, representing the Company Secretary, Tritax Management LLP, we can start the meeting. You may wish to follow the proceedings by referring to the notice of this meeting. My name is Karen Whitworth, I'm a Non-Executive Director of the company. And in the absence of the Chairman and the other directors due to current stay-at-home measures, I will chair the meeting in accordance with the Articles of Association of the company. We regret that current government restrictions have made it impossible for us to welcome you in person to today's meeting. But we're glad, nonetheless, to have you listen in through the conference call facility today. As previously notified, those Tritax Big Box shareholders who have dialed into the meeting will not be counted in the quorum and will not be able to vote at the meeting or ask questions. Your votes will, of course, be counted if you have either appointed me as Chair of the meeting as your proxy or you otherwise voted electronically. We encourage shareholders to submit any questions to us ahead of the meeting and can confirm that no questions were received in advance of the meeting. The notice of the meeting was sent to you in accordance with the Articles of Association of the company, and I will take the notice as read. I now formally propose the resolutions as set out in the notice of annual general meeting. Given the current government restrictions preventing attendance at the meeting in person and in accordance with the company's Articles of Association and best practice, I exercise my right as Chair to call for a poll on all resolutions. On a poll, each member, present in person or by proxy or by corporate representative, has 1 vote for every share held. Hana Beard has informed me that the poll on each of these resolutions has been validly demanded by me. I will read out each resolution, together with the breakdown of the proxy votes we've received appointing the Chair as proxy, before I put the resolutions to vote. Given that the current climate does not allow for attendance at the meeting in person, beyond myself and Hana, I will be able to immediately announce the results of the voting after the vote is taken on all resolutions, which were also lately announced through the regulatory information service and published on our website as soon as reasonably practicable. Resolutions 1 to 12 inclusive are proposed as ordinary resolutions, and resolutions 13 to 17 inclusive be will proposed as special resolutions. Shareholders have submitted proxies appointing the Chair as their proxy in relation to all resolutions. Resolution 1 is to receive and adopt the financial statements of the company for the financial year ended the 31st of December 2019. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 99.84%; against, 0.16%; abstained, 1,227,091. Resolution 2 is to receive, adopt and approve the directors' remuneration report other than the directors' remuneration policy. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 99.67%; against, 0.33%; abstained, 1,608,203. Resolution 3 is to elect Karen Whitworth as a Director of the company. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 98.98%; against, 1.02%; abstained, 134,625. Resolution 4 is to reelect Sir Richard Jewson as a Director of the company. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 97.59%; against, 2.41%; abstained, 65,846. Resolution 5 is to reelect Aubrey Adams as the Director of the company. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 99.8%; against, 0.2%; abstained, 63,441. Resolution 6 is to reelect Richard Laing as a Director of the company. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 93.31%; against, 6.69%; abstained, 67,024. Resolution 7 is to reelect Susanne Given as the Director of the company. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 99.99%; against, 0.01%; abstained 65,846. Resolution 8 is to reelect Alastair Hughes as a Director of the company. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 99.8%; against, 0.2%; abstained, 71,498. Resolution 9 is to reelect BDO LLP as auditors of the company. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 99.97%; against, 0.03%; abstained, 29,468,131. Resolution 10 is to authorize the directors to determine the auditor's remuneration. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 99.67%; against, 0.33%; abstained, 30,654. Resolution 11 is to authorize the directors to declare and pay all dividends of the company as interim dividends. The votes received were: in favor, 99.99%; against, 0.01%; abstained, 32,296. Resolution 12 is to authorize the directors to allot shares under Section 551 of the Companies Act 2006. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 93.54%; against, 6.46%; abstained, 45,604. Resolution 13 is to authorize the directors to allot shares as Section 561(1) of the Companies Act 2006 did not apply. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 99.96%; against, 0.04%; abstained, 1,594,491. Resolution 14 is to authorize the directors to allot shares as if Section of 561 subsection (1) of the Companies Act 2006 did not apply for the purpose of financing and acquisition. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 97.2%; against, 2.8%; abstained 1,695,591. Resolution 15 is to authorize the company to make market purchases of its own shares. Proxy votes received were: in favor, 99.28%; against, 0.72%; abstained, 2,965,264. Resolution 16 is to approve that a general meeting other than an annual general meeting may be called on not less than 14 clear days' notice. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 93.58%; against 6.42%; abstained, 15,333. Resolution 17 is to approve and adopt new Articles of Association. The proxy votes received were: in favor, 900 -- 99.99%; against, 0.01%; abstained 140,974. I now call for voting on all resolutions and hereby vote as Chair in accordance with the proxy votes received appointing the Chair as proxy and as recorded in the preprepared poll card for good order. [Voting]

I now declare the poll closed and all resolutions carried. The results of the voting will be confirmed through the regulatory information service as soon as reasonably practicable. The results will also be posted on the company's website. That now concludes the business of this AGM meeting and I declare the meeting closed. To those that joined -- that dialed into the conference facility this morning, we thank you for joining us. Thank you.