Vodafone Qatar has said the company’s financial year-end will now start on January 1 and end on December 31 to “ensure alignment” of the company’s results announcements and other reporting requirements with the local market.
This was decided at an extraordinary general assembly held here on Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by Vodafone Qatar’s chief executive officer Ian Gray, and attended by board member Nasser al-Marri and chief financial officer Brett Goschen.
Vodafone Qatar in a statement yesterday said the company “exceeded the quorum” of shareholders necessary for the extraordinary general assembly meeting and the outcome was that all resolutions proposed on the agenda in relation to the amendments to the company’s Articles of Association (AoA) were unanimously approved, subject to obtaining the relevant regulatory approvals.
In his opening address to the shareholders, Gray said, “The proposed changes to the company’s Articles of Association will align the company to other listed companies in Qatar, allow us to incorporate the recently issued corporate governance rules for companies and legal entities listed on the stock exchange issued by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority and enable us to set the company for future growth.”
Vodafone Qatar clarified that it is considering various options for securing additional funds to grow the company. In order to provide security to a potential financier, additional wording to Article 3 of the company’s AoA was proposed that would give it the necessary flexibility to do so.
Other proposals included the introduction of a limit of 5% on individual shareholdings in the company and for voting in the general assemblies, excluding the founding shareholders, Vodafone Group and relevant Qatari government entities.
Moreover, the procedures for the election of the chairman and the requirements for new board membership conditions were addressed at the meeting.
The shareholders also authorised the chairman of the board, the vice chairman, the CEO or whomever they may delegate individually to complete the required formalities in relation to the AoA amendments, subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals and to agree with the Qatar Financial Markets Authority on the changes required to comply with the new corporate governance rules issued by the QFMA Board Decision No. 5 of 2016 for companies and legal entities listed on the stock exchange.
Gray (centre) with Goschen and al-Marri at Vodafone Qatar’s extraordinary general assembly in Doha on Wednesday.
