The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
LISTED leading clothing and merchandise retailer, Edgars Stores Limited’s shareholders have unanimously agreed to receive information pertaining to business operations through electronic communications, a situation which will see the company saving about $10 000 per year.
Edgars Stores Limited passed a resolution to receive information about the company’s operations through electronic communication at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in Bulawayo on Friday.
“Notwithstanding any other provisions of these Articles of Association, any document and or notice required to be sent to members in terms of sections 61 to 62 or in terms of any other provisions of the Articles of Association or the Companies Act (Chapter 24.03) may, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, be sent by electronic means to the electronic address last furnished by such members and shall be posted on the company’s official website. Such documents and/or notices shall be forwarded to the members concerned within the prescribed time frames, provided that should a member request a hard copy such shall be availed in hard copy format to the member,” read the notice to shareholders.
Speaking after the EGM Edgars group managing director Ms Linda Masterson said the decision to use electronic mediums of communication was part of the company’s efforts to embrace modern means of communication and to cut on overhead costs.
“It’s very expensive printing documents, so with the modern telecommunications era, we want to be able to send information to our shareholders and media via electronic means rather than printed documents. So the resolution we passed this morning (on Friday) will allow us to do that.
“The shareholders have agreed that we can send them information electronically. However, any member that wants the printed copies we will print it for them. The default will now be electronic communication… It will save us about $10 000 a year and over and above all the shareholders just approved it and we can go ahead,” she said.
Ms Masterson said a number of companies in the country have embraced latest communication technologies and urged the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) to accept companies electronic communication for some of its requirements.
“We really would like to call on the ZSE to meet with the times when it comes to the laws that enabling AGMs and EGMs to meet electronically, because the way we meet now is very archaic. They (meetings) are expensive for the companies to hold and for shareholders to attend, and if we could do it electronically it would make life easier for everybody.
“We really call on the ZSE, we know they are progressive to allow the holding of meetings electronically like other parts of the world that use other means of communication than face to face… We have communicated with the stock exchange on all manners, including the approval of what we put on the press (on sending information to our shareholders through electronic communication),” she said.
The company will publish its financial results on Wednesday.
@DNsingo
