General Shareholder Meetings

We can help you to make your voice heard in your shareholder meetings.

Casting your vote and receiving company updates are often done at shareholder meetings, so you need to be aware how these work to exercise your rights.

The law around shareholder meetings has changed with the legal requirement to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) gone — unless they're required by a company’s articles — and the old term 'Extraordinary General Meeting' (EGM) being replaced with the term 'General Meeting'.

There may be additional matters that require a vote and the notice calling the meeting should tell you this. There are now provisions that set out a basic level of detail that must be included on each notice.

Find out more about General Meetings, AGMs and shareholder voting below.

General Meetings & AGMs

What is a General Meeting?

A General Meeting is simply a meeting of shareholders. 21 days' notice must be given to shareholders, though this can be reduced to 14 days (or increased to 28 days) in certain situations.

What is an Annual General Meeting?

An Annual General Meeting (AGM) is typically used to appoint company auditors and ‘lay before’ shareholders a copy of the last year’s accounts.

Shareholders aren’t asked to approve the accounts and are merely provided with a copy. However, shareholders can ask questions on matters covered in the accounts.

There may be additional matters that require a vote. The notice that called the meeting should tell you this. There are provisions that set out the basic level of detail that must be included on each notice.

Are companies required to hold an Annual General Meeting?

There is no legal requirement to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM), unless this is required by a company’s articles.

How do shareholder votes & resolutions work?

Typically, each shareholder has one vote. However, 'bigger' shareholders can influence proceedings by demanding a 'poll vote', where the total number of shares held decides the outcome.

You don't have to physically attend a General Meeting to cast your vote. This can be done by proxy via a form and meetings are now often held 'electronically'.

In private limited companies, shareholder resolutions are often passed using the 'written resolution procedure'. Both the Board and shareholders can propose the passing of resolutions in this way.

Under the written resolution procedure, resolutions should be circulated to all eligible shareholders at the same time. They’re passed by reaching the necessary number of votes — irrespective of whether all shareholders have had a chance to weigh in.