Shareholders of Workspace Group (WKP) overwhelmingly voted in favour of the re-election of its current board members at its annual general meeting (AGM) today, and against the appointment of Saba’s nominees.
Excluding the shares voted by Saba, which is Workspace’s largest shareholder with a 29.1% holding, the lowest number of votes cast in favour of the election or re-election of the current board of directors, was 87.13%. Excluding the shares voted by the activist hedge fund, the highest number of votes cast in support of its nominees was 13.3%.
Saba’s campaign against Workspace started earlier this year when it wrote an open letter to the board proposing a wind-down of the company within 12 months. The time frame was scaled back after much market criticism, but when the board rejected Saba’s plans it launched a requisition notice to replace the entire board with its nominees.
Workspace chair Duncan Owen commented: “Today the majority of our shareholders have voted decisively to back the Board and our existing strategy to deliver sustainable value for all shareholders. We are grateful for their support and are fully focused on the delivery of our strategy under Charlie and Tom’s leadership.
“We remain committed to open and constructive dialogue with all of our shareholders. The Board regularly reassesses the need for refreshment to ensure an appropriate balance of skills, experience, independence and diversity, and believes that this is best achieved through an orderly, structured and independent process that considers Workspace’s long-term strategic needs and the interests of all of our shareholders. We look forward to engaging further with shareholders following the outcome of today’s AGM as part of that process.”
QuotedData’s Richard Williams said: “Despite Saba being defeated in its aims here, the future is still unclear. As we have seen with Saba in its previous campaigns against Edinburgh Worldwide and Impax Environmental, it is not averse to coming back again and again and winning through a war of attrition. We hope sense prevails here and the new management team can get on with the tough task of turning Workspace around.”
