FACTS

British Airways (BA), one of the world’s leading international airlines, was keen to demonstrate a proactive commitment to shareholder confidence and good corporate governance at its 2005 annual general meeting (AGM).

CRITICAL ACTION

BA had previously employed a ‘Ballot Box’ system at its AGMs to poll more than 600 poll cards. For its 2005 AGM, BA used Computershare’s instant electronic registration and voting system.

Attendees were registered and issued with a personal Smartcard and an interactive keypad. Shareholders voted on each resolution via a poll, by simply inserting their Smartcard into the interactive keypad and casting their vote based on their shareholdings.

RESULTS

All attendees were registered in just seconds, and the system tallied all votes in ‘real-time’ and immediately displayed the results live to shareholders.

BA achieved a fast, reliable and 100% accurate method of polling shareholder votes.

TESTIMONIAL

“The electronic keypads modernised our AGM and kept it in line with changing times and technology. More importantly, they have held our practices fully accountable and transparent. I firmly believe that electronic voting is the future of AGMs, providing shareholders with a familiar format they can have complete confidence in.”

Sarah Billington, Manager Shareholder Services – British Airways