Unilever 2015 Annual Report Download - page 56

As far as Unlever s aware, no dsclosable changes n nterests
n the share captal of NV have been notfed to the AFM between
1 January 2016 and 15 February 2016 (the latest practcable
date for ncluson n ths report) Between 1 January 2013 and
15 February 2016, IN roup NV (IN), BlackRock and ASR have
held more than 3% n the share captal of NV Deutsche Bank,
Bank of Amerca orporaton and UBS A also held more than
3% n the share captal of NV However, durng ths perod, and
as notfed, these holdngs reduced to below the 3% reportng
threshold Durng 2015, IN transferred ts holdngs to NN as
part of the demerger of NN from IN
SINIFIANT SHAREHOLDERS OF PL
As far as Unlever s aware, the only holders of more than 3% of,
or 3% of votng rghts attrbutable to, PL’s ordnary share captal
on 31 December 2015 (apart from shares held n treasury by PL,
see page 48), are BlackRock, Inc (BlackRock) and the Leverhulme
Trust as ndcated n the table below
Shareholder lass of shares
Total number of
shares held
% of relevant
class
BlackRock ordnary shares 81,254,430 63
The Leverhulme
Trust ordnary shares 68,531,182 53
No dsclosable changes n nterests n the share captal of
PL have been notfed to PL between 1 January 2016 and
15 February 2016 (the latest practcable date for ncluson n
ths report) Between 1 January 2013 and 15 February 2016,
BlackRock and the trustees of the Leverhulme Trust and the
Leverhulme Trade hartes Trust have held more than 3% of, or
3% of votng rghts attrbutable to, PL’s ordnary shares Durng
ths perod, and as notfed, these holdngs reduced to below the
3% reportng threshold
Durng 2014, the trustees of the Leverhulme Trust and the trustees
of the Leverhulme Trade hartes Trust (comprsng the same
ndvduals (together the ‘Trustees’)) together held 70,566,764
ordnary shares amountng to 55% of the votng rghts of PL On
31 December 2014 the Leverhulme Trust and the Leverhulme Trade
hartes Trust became chartable ncorporated organsatons As a
consequence of these changes, the balance of shares held by the
Trustees has reduced to zero and only the Leverhulme Trust has a
dsclosable nterest as shown n the table above
SHAREHOLDER ENAEMENT
Unlever values open, constructve and effectve communcaton
wth our shareholders Our shareholders can rase ssues drectly
wth the harman and, f approprate, the Vce-harman and
Senor Independent Drector The FO has lead responsblty for
nvestor relatons, wth the actve nvolvement of the EO They are
supported by our Investor Relatons department whch organses
presentatons for analysts and nvestors These and other
materals (eg an Introducton to Unlever and AM materals)
are generally made avalable on our webste
Prncpal shareholders the Executve Drectors’ nvestor relatons
programme, wth an actve nvolvement of the Executve Drectors
n offce durng 2015 and our new FO, raeme Ptkethly,
contnued n 2015 wth meetngs n ten maor ctes n Europe,
North Amerca and Asa In all, they met more than 100 nvestors
durng these roadshows In addton, the harman mantaned
contact wth prncpal shareholders wth one-to-one and group
governance and strategy meetngs n the UK, the Netherlands and
n the US n September
Quarterly announcements brefngs on quarterly results are gven
va teleconference and are accessble by telephone or va our webste
Annual nvestor semnar ths annual event was held n Manla
and Sngapore It focused on long-term value creaton and the
development of our busness n South East Asa It ncluded
presentatons on Unlever strategy, South East Asa, dgtal
marketng and e-commerce, and delverng long-term returns
The event was attended by the harman, EO, FO and other
senor management The sldes shown and an audo recordng
of the presentatons were made avalable and can be accessed
on our webste Ths allows those nvestors not attendng n
person to access the nformaton provded at the event
Investor conferences the Executve Drectors and members of the
Investor Relatons team also meet a large number of nvestors at
the ndustry conferences they attend In 2015 the conferences that
were attended by Unlever representatves ncluded broker
sponsored conferences n London, Pars, San Francsco, Boston,
Amsterdam, Stockholm and Sngapore
Feedback from shareholders we mantan a frequent dalogue
wth our prncpal shareholders and regularly collect feedback
We use ths feedback to help shape our nvestor programme and
future shareholder communcatons Prvate shareholders are
encouraged to gve feedback va shareholderservcesunlever
com The harman, Executve Drectors and harmen of the
ommttees are also generally avalable to answer questons
from the shareholders at the AMs each year
Board awareness the Boards are brefed on nvestor reactons
to the roup’s quarterly results announcements and are brefed
on any ssues rased by shareholders that are relevant to ther
responsbltes
wwwunlevercom/nvestorrelatons
ENERAL MEETINS
Both NV and PL hold an AM each year At the AMs the harman
gves hs thoughts on governance aspects of the precedng year and
the EO gves a detaled revew of the performance of the roup over
the last year Shareholders are encouraged to attend the relevant
meetng and to ask questons at or n advance of the meetng
Indeed, the queston and answer sesson forms an mportant part of
each meetng The external audtors are welcomed to the AMs and
are enttled to address the meetngs
The 2015 AMs were held n Rotterdam and Leatherhead n Aprl
and the topcs rased by shareholders ncluded Non-Executve
Drector successon plannng, acquston polcy, progress of the
Unlever Sustanable Lvng Plan, the Bakng, ookng and Spreads
busness, dversty, tax transparency and the NV cumulatve
preference shares
SHAREHOLDER PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS
Shareholders of NV may propose resolutons f they ndvdually
or together hold at least 1% of NV’s ssued captal n the form of
shares or depostary recepts ssued for NV shares Shareholders
who together represent at least 10% of the ssued captal of NV
can, under certan crcumstances, also requston the Dstrct
ourt to allow them to convene an Extraordnary eneral Meetng
to deal wth specfc resolutons
Shareholders of PL may propose resolutons f they ndvdually
or together hold shares representng at least 5% of the total votng
rghts of PL, or 100 shareholders who hold on average £100 each
n nomnal value of PL share captal can requre PL to propose a
resoluton at a eneral Meetng PL shareholders holdng n
aggregate 5% of the ssued PL ordnary shares are able to
convene a eneral Meetng of PL
49Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2015 Governance