Shareholders will be asked to vote on a proposal to remove the FBD Holdings listing from the London Stock Exchange next month.
It is among 14 resolutions which are due to be put to shareholders at the insurance company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The meeting will be held at 11:00a.m at the Irish Farm Centre in Dublin on Thursday, May 9.
FBD Holdings
The special resolution seeks to authorise the directors of FBD Holdings to apply for the cancellation of the listing of the company’s ordinary shares from the premium segment of the official list of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
It would also entail removing the ordinary shares from trading on the main London Stock Exchange.
The primary listing of the company’s ordinary shares on the main market of Euronext Dublin will not be affected by the resolution.
Only holders of ordinary shares will be permitted to vote on the UK delisting resolution.
Holders of the company’s 8% preference shares and 14% preference shares have confirmed that they will abstain from voting.
London Stock Exchange
In a letter to shareholders, FBD Holdings chair Liam Herlihy said that in recent years the volume of trading in the company’s ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange is negligible as a percentage of the overall trading volume.
He said that less than 2% of FBD’s average total volume traded was conducted on the stock exchange over the last 12 months.
He pointed to the cost, along with the legal and regulatory burden associated with maintaining the listing, which he said the board believes is no longer in the interest of the company or its shareholders.
Herlihy also said that as a result of Brexit the regulatory environments in Ireland and the UK are “starting to diverge somewhat and this is likely to become more pronounced over time”.
He said that following the UK delisting the ordinary shares will remain tradeable on Euronext Dublin and the move would not lessen the regulatory oversight of the FBD Group.
Herlihy said that the board “unanimously recommend” that shareholders vote in favour of the resolution.
Vote
In the event that the resolution is passed by more than 75% of shareholders at the AGM, it is expected that the last day of dealings in the company’s ordinary shares on the main market of the London Stock Exchange would be June 7, 2024.
The listing of the company’s ordinary shares on the main market of the London Stock Exchange would be three days later.
Last month, FBD Holdings confirmed a 6% increase in insurance revenue for the 2023 financial year to €401 million in its preliminary annual results.
Gross written premium – the sum of all money collected from customers for insurance premiums – increased 8% to €414 million in 2023, which FBD said was driven by strong growth in agri-insurance, including tractor and commercial business insurance.
The business’ over all profit before tax was recorded at €81 million. FBD proposes to pay a dividend of €1/share.