Déjà (Déjà) Vu at Aegis EGM

For the third time in ten months, shareholders of Aegis plc voted decisively at today's EGM in London to reject the appointment to the board of two directors nominated by Group Bollore.

Meetings in June and November last year saw the same two candidates rejected by roughly the same margin. Philippe Germond and Roger Hatchuel each received 43.7% of votes cast in favour of their appointment and 56.3% against, although total votes cast only represented 850m of the 1.15bn eligible shares.

No doubt 'referring to the notes he made earlier', Aegis Chairman Lord Sharman said: 'Over 90% of independent shareholders have now rejected these proposals three times in ten months. They see Board representation for a direct competitor as an unacceptable conflict of interest. We hope that Group Bollore will come to accept this democratically expressed point of view. In the meantime, our attention remains on developing our business for the benefit of all shareholders – building on ten years of market out-performance and the fastest growth of any global marketing services group.'

Vincent Bollore, Chairman of Aegis rival Havas, told journalists this morning that he would call three shareholder meetings per year at Aegis until successful: 'We will follow the votes and believe that one day the votes will come to us'.

Bollore said after the second vote in November (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6165.htm ) that this third attempt would be 'preceded by activity to persuade shareholders that the appointments will add experience and increase the company's value.' 93% of votes not controlled by Bollore were today opposed to the nominations, against 94% last year, suggesting it might be a long haul. Germond and Hatchuel were first put forward by Bollore almost a year ago (www.mrweb.com/drno/news5522.htm ).

Aegis and MR division Synovate last month reported rapid organic growth for 2006 (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6563.htm ). The group is online at www.aegisplc.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.