Annual Report 2012 - Development Securities PLC

50 Development Securities PLC / Annual Report 2012
Report of the Directors continued
The Resolution authorises the Company and its
subsidiaries to:
make political donations to political parties or
independent election candidates not exceeding
£10,000 in total;
make political donations to political organisations,
other than political parties not exceeding £10,000
in total; and
incur political expenditure, not exceeding £10,000
in total,
provided that the aggregate amount of any such
donations and expenditure shall not exceed £10,000
during the period beginning with the date of the passing
of the Resolution and ending on the date of the
Company's next Annual General Meeting.
Full details of all the resolutions can be found
in the enclosed Notice of Annual General Meeting,
which is also displayed on the Company’s website at
www.developmentsecurities.com
The Directors believe that all the proposals to be
considered at the Annual General Meeting are in the best
interests of both the Company and its shareholders. The
Directors unanimously recommend that you vote in favour
of the proposed resolutions as they intend to do in
respect of their own holdings.
Financial risk management
Disclosures in respect of financial risk management
objectives and exposures are set out in note 18c on
pages 95 to 97.
Charitable donations
Charitable donations during the period were £50,915
(31st December 2010: £112,124). The Group supported
a number of charities serving the community in which
the Group operates. This included national and local
charitable organisations and covered a wide range of
causes including education, public services, community
support schemes and events organised on behalf of
major charities.
The Group made no political donations in the period
(31st December 2010: £nil).
Other substantial interests
At the date of this report, the Directors have been notified
of the interests in 3.0 per cent or more of the Company’s
issued share capital shown in the following table. These
interests were notified to the Company pursuant to
Disclosure and Transparency Rule 5.
Shares %
BlackRock, Inc. 21,919,903 17.92
Prudential plc 10,910,307 8.92
F&C Asset Management plc 7,145,046 5.84
FIL Limited 6,223,537 5.09
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. 6,174,376 5.05
Aberdeen Asset Management PLC 6,137,352 5.02
Legal & General Group plc 4,808,521 3.93
Employees
The Group is committed to the principle of equal
opportunity in employment. Current and potential
employees are offered the same opportunities regardless
of gender, race, colour, religion, nationality, ethnic origin,
age, sexual orientation, marital status or disability. It is the
Group’s policy to apply best practice in the employment
of the disabled, including, wherever possible, the
retraining and retention of staff who become disabled
during their employment.
Payment policy
Amounts due to suppliers are settled promptly within
their terms of payment, except in cases of dispute. The
number of creditor days outstanding for the Company
at 29th February 2012 was 10.0 days (31st December
2010: 7.2 days).
Auditors
Our auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, have
indicated their willingness to continue in office, and a
resolution that they be re-appointed will be proposed at
the forthcoming Annual General Meeting. The Board,
on the advice of the Audit Committee, recommends their
re-appointment.
Post balance sheet events
Details of events which have occurred since 29th
February 2012 and up to the date of this report are
disclosed in note 28 to the financial statements on
page 105.