19th Apr 2005 13:32
Schroders PLC19 April 2005 Schroders plc Schroders plc Annual General Meeting 2005 Schroders plc announces that at it's Annual General Meeting held at 12 noontoday, all resolutions were passed on a show of hands. The Chairman's Statement to the meeting is set out below: "Before turning to the formal business of the meeting, I should like tointroduce my fellow Directors Sir Peter Job, Massimo Tosato, Richard Horlick,George W. Mallinckrodt, Michael Dobson, Bruno Schroder, Jonathan Asquith, KevinParry, Andrew Beeson and Merlyn Lowther together with our Board Secretary HowardTrust. May I extend apologies on behalf of David Swensen who is unable to bewith us today. As we announced in February, David steps down from the Boardtoday after nearly three years with Schroders. We have greatly benefited fromDavid's contribution over that time and he leaves with our thanks and very bestwishes for the future. It is our intention to appoint a new independentnon-executive Director to replace David. Andrew Beeson joined the Board on 1October and we have already benefited from his experience and his contributionto our discussions. Andrew is standing for election today having been appointedsince the last annual general meeting. 2004 was a successful year for your company. Revenues and profits increased. Wehad solid investment performance and exceptional returns from our private equitybusiness. Asset management revenues of £491 million drove a substantial increasein asset management profit before exceptional items, which doubled to £120.8million. Profit before tax increased to £191 million from £65 million. Private equity was particularly strong, with profits of £83.6 million. Our private banking business also had a positive year. In the light of these results and the Group's strong financial position, theBoard is recommending an increased final dividend of 13.5 pence per share. Thiswould bring the total dividend for the year to 20 pence, an increase of 1.5pence over 2003. Looking forward, whilst we do not expect the exceptional private equityperformance to be repeated in 2005, we do see continued momentum in our coreasset management business. We will also continue to seek growth opportunitiesand invest in them as they arise." This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Schroders