27th Jan 2005 15:46
Lonmin PLC27 January 2005 27 January 2005 LONMIN PLC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - VOTING RESULTS At the Annual General Meeting today the resolution to approve the 2004Directors' Remuneration Report was not passed by shareholders. The voting wasapproximately 41.8 million shares in favour (44.8%) and 51.5 million sharesagainst (55.2%). Holders of 1.9 million shares abstained on the resolution. Thevote was advisory and will not affect the actual remuneration paid to anyindividual director. Certain shareholders expressed concerns about the paymentof an ex gratia bonus to Dr Sam Jonah, in particular that inadequate explanationwas given in the Annual Report. A summary of the facts which led to the Board'sdecision in these exceptional circumstances is provided below. Sam was an employee of Lonmin for more than 35 years. He was appointed to theBoard in 1992 and he served as an executive director until February 2003. Fromthat date until his resignation on 26 April 2004, he was a non-executivedirector, although he retained accountability for Lonmin's investment inAshanti. Sam's primary responsibility was to act as the steward of Lonmin's investment inAshanti Goldfields. Last year we made an exceptional profit of US$112m whenLonmin finally realised its investment in that company. Sam played a pivotalrole in protecting Lonmin's interest and voting power in Ashanti and thussecuring the merger with AngloGold. The payment was a recognition of thesubstantial effort he made for which he was not rewarded by his non executivedirector's fee. The Board was therefore satisfied that an ex gratia payment of£500,000 to him was entirely justified. All other resolutions proposed at the Annual General Meeting were approved byshareholders. Full results of all voting are available on the Company's website,www.lonmin.com. END This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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