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Annual general meeting (Commercial) meaning
Published by a LexisNexis Commercial expert
What does Annual general meeting (Commercial) mean?
An annual general meeting is the yearly meeting of a company’s members at which statutory and routine shareholder business is conducted (for example, receiving the accounts and reports, declaring final dividends, appointing or re‑appointing directors and auditors, and allowing members to question the board).
In England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Companies Act 2006 requires an AGM for public companies and for traded companies (including private companies whose voting shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market). Private companies that are not traded need not hold an AGM unless required by their articles or they choose to do so. The Act prescribes content and procedure (including notice, quorum, proxies and voting), with AGMs commonly convened on at least 21 clear days’ notice, subject to permitted short notice.
In Ireland, the Companies Act 2014 requires AGMs for public companies and, by default, for most private companies, although a private company limited by shares may dispense with holding an AGM by written resolution, and single‑member companies can opt not to hold one.
The term is statutory and used consistently across these jurisdictions, and timely, compliant AGMs are central to shareholder governance and financial reporting cycles.
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Read More View the related UK Parliament Acts about Annual general meeting (Commercial)
UK PARLIAMENT ACTS
[340B Traded companies: expenses of circulating members' matters to be dealt with at AGM]
[(1) The expenses of the company in complying with section 340A need not be paid by the members who requested the inclusion of the matter in the business to be dealt with at the annual general meeting if requests sufficient to require the company to include the matter are received before the end of the financial year preceding the meeting.(2) Otherwise—(a) the expenses of the company in complying with that section must be paid by the members who requested the inclusion of the matter
