28th Mar 2008 12:00
Morrison(Wm.)Supermarkets PLC28 March 2008 Announcement from Sir Ken Morrison, Honorary President of Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc 28 March 2008 Re-organisation and changes of trustee of certain Morrison family trusts Sir Ken Morrison, Honorary President of Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc, announceson behalf of the Morrison family that arrangements relating to theirshareholdings in the company have been re-organised. The new arrangements do notaffect the total voting rights held by the Morrison family in the company. The full text of the RNS announcement made by Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc isbelow. Enquiries: Citigate Dewe Rogerson 020 7638 9571 Jonathan Clare Simon Rigby Sarah Gestetner Sir Ken Morrison and family - Shareholding in Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc This announcement sets out certain arrangements of the Morrison family inrelation to their shareholdings in Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc ("the Company").These arrangements do not impact the aggregate voting rights held by theMorrison family in the ordinary share capital of the Company. Sir Ken Morrison has today informed the Company that on 28 March 2008 he gifted86,005,002 ordinary shares of 10p each in Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc ("Ordinary Shares") into the Kenneth Morrison Discretionary Settlement. Thetrustees of this settlement are Sir Ken Morrison, Lady Morrison and Paul Howell. Sir Ken Morrison has also gifted 1,750,000 Ordinary Shares to the Ken and LynneMorrison Charitable Trust. Sir Ken Morrison is a trustee of this trust and assuch retains, with his co-trustees, voting rights in respect of these shares. In addition to acting as a trustee of the Kenneth Morrison DiscretionarySettlement, Paul Howell has today notified the Company that he has become atrustee of certain other Morrison family trusts. In his capacity as trustee MrHowell has voting rights in respect of shares of the Company. Accordingly, inaggregate, Paul Howell now has voting rights in respect of 106,805,207 OrdinaryShares, representing 3.98% of the Company's issued share capital. Sir Ken Morrison and Mr Arthur Richard Wilson also act as trustees of certainMorrison family trusts. Sir Ken Morrison and Mr Wilson have today informed theCompany that they have retired as trustees of certain of these trusts holding atotal of 95,674,375 Ordinary Shares and have been replaced by Nigel Pritchardand Susan Pritchard, members of the Morrison family. Accordingly Sir KenMorrison's and Mr Wilson's respective voting rights in respect of the Company'sOrdinary Shares have reduced by 89,846,877 shares (in respect of Sir KenMorrison) and 95,674,375 shares (in respect of Mr Wilson). As a result of the above transactions, the following hold voting rights inrespect of Ordinary Shares representing in excess of three per cent. of theCompany's issued share capital: Sir Kenneth Duncan Morrison: 171,346,034 Ordinary Shares, representing 6.38% ofthe voting rights in the Company (previous holding set out in Notes below) Mr Arthur Richard Wilson: 155,758,573 Ordinary Shares, representing 5.80% ofthe voting rights in the Company (previous holding: 9.36%) Mr Nigel George Pritchard: 135,163,117 Ordinary Shares, representing 5.03% ofthe voting rights in the Company (previous holding: below 3%) Mrs Susan Barbara Pritchard: 97,179,811 Ordinary Shares, representing 3.62% ofthe voting rights in the Company (previous holding: below 3%) Mr Paul Jonathan Howell: 106,805,207 Ordinary Shares, representing 3.98% of thevoting rights in the Company (previous holding: below 3%) In summary, save for the 89,846,877 Ordinary Shares held by trusts in respect ofwhich Sir Ken Morrison has retired as trustee and over which Nigel and SusanPritchard, members of the Morrison family, now hold the voting rights, the totalnumber of Ordinary Shares in respect of which Sir Ken Morrison holds votingrights remains unchanged following the transactions announced today. ENDS Notes Sir Ken Morrison's holding of Ordinary Shares at the time of the lastnotification made on 22 November 2007 was 111,719,552 (beneficial) and159,698,208 (non-beneficial), a total of 271,417,760 (representing 10.11% of theCompany's issued share capital). Following the above transactions, Sir Ken Morrison's notifiable holding ofvoting rights in respect of Ordinary Shares is 171,346,034 (representing 6.38%of the total voting rights). The difference of 100,071,726 shares is due to: (a) Sir Ken Morrison having retired as a trustee of certain family trusts holding 89,846,877 Ordinary Shares, as described above. (b) Following Sir Ken Morrison retiring as a director of the Company, the voting rights in respect of 10,224,849 Ordinary Shares no longer form part of his notifiable interest as the shares to which such voting rights attach are held in trust for the benefit of his minor children and Sir Ken Morrison is not a trustee of such trusts. There has been no change in the legal or beneficial ownership of such shares. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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