RNS Number : 1737P
Gladstone PLC
20 March 2009
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Press Release
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20 March 2009
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Gladstone plc
('Gladstone' or 'the Company')
Letter to Shareholders following successful defence at General Meeting
Following the rejection by shareholders of the resolution put forward by Constellation to appoint Mark Leonard as a Director of Gladstone plc, Gladstone forwarded the following letter to its shareholders.
'Dear Shareholder,
Shareholders rejected the Resolution to appoint Mark Leonard to the Board of Gladstone
On 16 March 2009, Gladstone made the following announcement. 'At the General Meeting of Gladstone held today at 2.30 pm, the resolution that Mark Leonard be appointed as a Director of the Company, was rejected by Gladstone shareholders. The Board of Gladstone hopes that the unsolicited approaches and initiatives by Constellation Software Inc. will now cease. Shareholders have twice voiced their rejection of Constellation's moves and their support of the current Board. The Board expects Constellation to respect this statement by its fellow shareholders and work constructively with the Company as a major shareholder. The Board of Gladstone looks forward to delivering the growth plans and shareholder value they believe is inherent in the business'.
Prior to the resolution being put to the vote at the General Meeting, a statement from the Board on relevant matters leading up to and subsequent to Constellation's bid was made to persons present. For the benefit of our shareholders who were not present at this meeting, a copy of the note I read out can be found on our website www.gladstoneplc.com, and by clicking on the Latest News in the box on the right. The pdf is shown as 'Statement read by the Chairman at the General Meeting'.
I am now writing to thank you, on behalf of the Board of Gladstone, for your support and patience over the past few months. It became apparent to the Board, very early on following Constellation's hostile bid, that a large majority of Gladstone shareholders understood the underlying value in Gladstone. They were very clearly concerned about Constellation's opportunistic approach. The Board believed a majority of shareholders fully recognised their shares are worth more than the 25p per share offered by Constellation. It was the Board's duty to protect this value on behalf of all shareholders.
The rejection of both the hostile bid and the subsequent resolution are evidence of your support for the position that the Board has taken. We apologise for any inconvenience that was caused by the quantity and nature of the correspondence you have been subjected to. However, the result we believe is in the best interests of all shareholders has been achieved. The Board is now looking forward to devoting its time and efforts fully to further running the business and building on the growth foundations to achieve the shareholder value inherent in Gladstone.
Once again, thank you for your support.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Said Ziai
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer'
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
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Gladstone plc
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Dr. Said Ziai, Chairman and Chief Executive
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Tel: +44 (0) 1491 201010
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www.gladstoneplc.com
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Financial Adviser & Nominated Adviser to Gladstone:
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Grant Thornton UK LLP
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Charles Cattaneo
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Tel: +44 (0) 7774 276512
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Ian Stanway
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Tel: +44 (0) 121 232 5193
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Gerry Beaney
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 7728 2589
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Broker to Gladstone:
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Fairfax I.S. PLC
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Simon Bennett / Laura Littley
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Tel: +44 (0) 20 7598 5368
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Media enquiries:
Notes to Editors:
Gladstone plc's innovative software products and services, currently targeted at the global health and leisure and education markets, are used daily by thousands of front line staff, managers, end users and students.
Gladstone is a market leader in the provision of member relationship management solutions for diverse health and leisure organisations including trusts, leisure centres, and major private leisure chains and is established as the de facto standard for UK local authorities. The Company enables all its clients in both public and private sectors, including organisations such as Sportscotland and Trinity College Dublin, to utilise central database facilities for central and cross-site on-line bookings, Customer Relationship Management ('CRM') and membership management, centralisation of administration, marketing and reporting.
The Company also provides a wide range of integrated systems and software-based solutions for the rapidly expanding Education Facilities Management Systems ('EFMS') market across the entire spectrum of educational establishments and is a key supplier to the UK Government's Building Schools for the Future ('BSF') initiative.
Gladstone is focused on extending its solutions capabilities, which enable its clients to maximise resource usage, retain customers and improve operational performance, thereby making cost efficiencies, into new vertical and geographic markets aligned with its growth strategy.
The Company's current solutions include the comprehensive Gladstone Plus2TM product suite which incorporates advanced functionality including web-based remote booking, advanced analysis and the use of kiosks, as well as Gladstone OnRecordTM which serves the education industry with e-registration, biometric and smart card recognition, cashless payment systems, extensive information portals, libraries usage and access control.
Based in Oxfordshire, the Company has sales offices in Glasgow, Dublin (Ireland) and Sydney (Australia), with distributors in Dubai and Europe in addition to development facilities in Sonderborg (Denmark) and Karachi (Pakistan).
For further information, visit www.gladstoneplc.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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