What is an AGM

An Annual General Meeting is a get-together that happens every year between the directors of a company and its investors. Attending as one of the shareholders means you get to hear all about how the company has performed, what the plans are going forward, and the decisions that you can vote on. Yep - you get to weigh in on things like new or existing directors getting elected, whether there should be a payment of dividends, and if certain fees are approved.

Voting

Any shareholder can attend an AGM but not everyone gets a vote - only shareholders who hold whole shares by the last day to trade can attend and vote or submit a proxy, which allows someone else to vote on your behalf.

Non-shareholders can also attend but they’ll need to sign a visitor’s register and aren’t allowed to ask any questions about the company or its results. 

How to attend

As an EasyEquities user there’s a couple of things you’ll need to know before you attend an AGM:

If you’re a shareholder, you’ll get invited to an AGM via the companies’ transfer secretary (E.g.: Computershare) via email or post.

Only the shares which you own or purchase by the last day to trade will count towards your attendance. If you buy shares in a company for the first time after this date, you won’t be able to attend the AGM as a voting shareholder. Remember that shares take a few days to reflect in your name so they’d have to be purchased within the settlement time on or before the Last Day to Trade.  Here’s an example of how the Last Day to Trade is communicated in an AGM invite:

 

What you'll need to take with you

You’ll need to take your ID and a letter of representation from us, which you can get by emailing corporateaction@easyequities.co.za.  Make sure that you send the email from the email address registered on your account. You can only apply for this after the Record Date so that our team is sure you are on the register. Here is how the Record Date is communicated in an AGM invite:

Using the above example, this is how it would work. To be registered in the register of members by the Record Date (18 November 2016), you would have needed to buy the shares on or before the Last Day to Trade (15 November 2016). If you don’t sell your shares any time before or on the Last Day to Trade, you would automatically be recorded in the register of members on the record date. 

A lot of the time you’ll be able to attend the AGM virtually, instead of in person. You can often access an AGM via live streaming through your device or computer.