Find or service a Standard Life product | Contact us

15.05.2009
Standard Life Annual General Meeting

Standard Life announces proposed establishment of Charitable Trust

Standard Life plc today held its Annual General Meeting at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. All resolutions were passed by voting shareholders.

During the meeting Standard Life's Chairman Gerry Grimstone announced that Standard Life is proposing to establish the Standard Life Charitable Trust later this year.  The Trust will be used to enable Standard Life to continue its approach to corporate responsibility and to support Standard Life's community investment programmes.

It is intended that the Charitable Trust will have an initial investment of around £5million as a result of the residual amounts left over from the Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) after the move to the new Scrip dividend scheme1, and from money donated to it from Standard Life's Unclaimed Assets Trust (UAT)2.

Following the meeting Standard Life's Chairman, Gerry Grimstone, commented:

"2008 was a tumultuous year for many of our shareholders and customers.  I was therefore very pleased to report today that Standard Life has continued to make good progress in these challenging times.  As well as increasing our profitability in 2008 we maintained a robust capital position.  Our business remains in good health and I believe we are well positioned to capitalise on future opportunities.

"In addition, I was delighted to be able to announce the proposed creation of the Standard Life Charitable Trust.  This will ensure that Standard Life is at the forefront of corporate responsibility and community investment in all of the markets in which we operate."

For further information, please contact:

Barry Cameron
Direct: 0131 245 6165
Mobile: 0771 248 6463
Email: barry_cameron@standardlife.com

Jo Scully
Direct: 0131 245 3947
Mobile: 07525 732 102
Email: joanne_scully@standardlife.com

Notes to Editors

1. Shareholders today approved the creation of a Scrip dividend scheme to replace the existing DRIP.

The DRIP allowed shareholders to automatically invest their cash dividend payments in Standard Life shares, instead of receiving a cash payment.  These shares were bought on the stock market with the cash dividend payment.  Shareholders taking part in the Scrip will still receive extra shares but these shares would be issued directly by Standard Life plc, instead of being bought on the stock market with the cash dividend payment.  This ensures that shareholders can still receive their dividend directly in Standard Life shares, but means that Standard Life can retain cash that would otherwise have been used to buy shares on the stock market.

As part of the move from DRIP to Scrip a cash surplus of some £700,000 will arise.  This cash represents an average of £1.31 per shareholder participating in the DRIP after the November 2008 dividend (and any accrued surplus from previous DRIP purchases) was applied in purchasing for that shareholder the maximum number of whole shares.  We plan to donate the surplus cash amounts to the proposed Standard Life Charitable Trust, but any shareholder who wishes to do so can claim their surplus cash amount.  The largest surplus amount belonging to any individual shareholder is £2.59.

2. The Unclaimed Assets Trust (UAT) holds Standard Life plc shares and cash (the unclaimed assets) which were allocated to former members of The Standard Life Assurance Company following its demutualisation and who have not yet claimed their entitlement.  The UAT expires on 9 July 2016 when the unclaimed assets can be used by the company for general corporate purposes including charitable giving.  As part of an ongoing exercise to identify claimants and unite them with their entitlements, Standard Life has been advised with a high degree of certainty, that there will be a significant amount of unclaimed assets remaining within the UAT on the date it expires.  On the basis of these projections there is a proposal to amend the terms of the Trust Deed.  This will enable a small proportion of the unclaimed assets to be gifted by the UAT to a new charity to be established by Standard Life, namely the Standard Life Charitable Trust.  The proposal to set up the Standard Life Charitable Trust will enable us to continue our approach to corporate responsibility without having to wait until 2016 to help support our community investment programme.

In the highly unlikely event that the gift of these assets by the UAT left it unable to satisfy the claims of those entitled to the unclaimed assets, Standard Life would make up any shortfall in the UAT.

As at 2 May 2009 117,882 individuals had yet to claim 41,394,213 shares and around £7.5million in cash from the UAT. This compares with 239,683 individuals, 93,417,492 shares and around £15million in cash at the time of Standard Life's flotation.

Full voting results from today's Annual General Meeting can be found below.

Back to previous page