UK company law and virtual general meetings

Fascinating article in the FT today: An end to sandwiches and protests? The rise of the virtual AGM

Given Zoom, Teams and the like did not exist when the Companies Act 2006 was making its way through Parliament, it's no surprise that the provisions dealing with company meetings assumed that shareholders or their proxies would physically meet in person. The reference to “the place of the meeting” in section 311(1) (a) of the Companies Act 2006 reflects this. 

If you are interested in getting back up to speed on this topic, this report by the FRC issued in 2020 (Corporate Governance AGM Guidance October 2020) provides some helpful background on traditional, hybrid and virtual-only shareholder meetings.

So is this the year in which company law finally catches up with technology (at least in part)? We are following this topic closely and will publish an update as and when the government publishes draft legislation for consultation.

If you would like to discuss what this means for your company, then please speak to your usual Burges Salmon contact or Nick Graves (Head of Corporate and M&A) or AJ Venter (Partner: Corporate and M&A).