ANNUAL REPORTS
ANNUAL REPORTS & ACCOUNTS AND OTHER COMPANY INFORMATION
ShareSoc definitely recommends that shareholders in a company read its Annual Report –
Over 95% of ShareSoc members are happy to receive our newsletters in electronic form. Some read them “on-
What is the Legal Position?
The distribution of Annual Reports is governed by the Companies Act 2006. Every company must send a copy of its annual Report and Accounts to all members (Clause 423). This can be either via post or electronically. An offence is committed by the company and its directors if they do not do so (Clause 425).
Paper or Electronic?
A company is permitted to send the Annual Report by electronic means if the member does not opt-
Note that making a document available on a web site is deemed to be delivery if the company’s Articles permit that, and the company has notified the intended recipient of its availability and where it can be found. Best practice is of course to send a paper notice of the Annual General Meeting (including a proxy voting form), and a notice where the Annual Report can be found at the same time.
See Schedule 5 of the Companies Act for where these options are defined. The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) can also provide guidance on these matters.
Who is a Member?
Members of a company are the shareholders who are on the share register, i.e. those who hold their shares in certificated form or in a Personal Crest Account.
What About Nominee Accounts?
If you hold shares in a Nominee Account then you can still obtain Annual Reports in electronic or paper form, if your stockbroker requests them (for example, the Share Centre has systems to enable these to be supplied). But many brokers do not bother to support this.
Expense is Not an Excuse
Some companies argue that they cannot afford to print Annual Reports, but they only need to do so for those members who have opted-
Other Information
Interim reports are a different matter and many companies have now stopped printing those. They can of course be obtained, plus preliminary results and other announcements via a Regulatory News Service (see the Links page of the ShareSoc web site for sources of such news). Shareholders in a company should register with one of these services so they get sent all news published by the company as soon as it is issued via e-