Darcy Willson-Rymer and board get 99% of votes cast at today’s AGM
Card Factory chief executive Darcy Willson-Rymer was re-elected to the company’s board this morning, 23 June, at the greeting card retail giant’s AGM with 99.97% of the votes cast.
All the resolutions set out in the AGM notice issued last month were passed by a show of hands at the meeting held at the company’s Wakefield head office, with the annual report for the year to 31 January 2022, approved by 99.98% of votes.
Also re-elected were non-executive chairman Paul Moody, chief financial officer Kristian Lee, senior independent non-executive director Octavia Morley, independent non-executive director Roger Whiteside and non-independent non-executive director Nathan Lane, while Robert McWilliam was elected as a non-executive director.
The Strategic Report contained within the Annual Report recognised that Card Factory’s brand recognition has fallen since 2019 so a customer marketing team is in development to implement a strategy to elevate the company’s key attributes, along with increased marketing activity to elevate the value-for-money messaging and perception.
Shipping delays and increased costs are also noted as a new financial risk since 2021, with mitigation measures including bringing forward stock orders to address anticipated delays and use of multiple shipping partners to secure capacity, while retail price increases have been applied and are planned alongside an ongoing review of country of supply and container volumes to reduce overall costs.
Increased risk has also been applied to Retail Partner Exposure, as the Card Factory brand could be or reputation could be damaged by retail partners’ actions so a business development team is being formed to build relationships with existing partners and develop a pipeline of future partners.
And the significant reliance on the business’s single-site Printcraft facility, which prints 70% of cards and a significant proportion of personalised online orders, was mentioned as, if this site is unable to operate, there could be a significant impact on operations.
While insurance is maintained, business continuity and disaster recovery plans have been fully assessed and updated with scenario planning and training scheduled, including identification of alternative suppliers for impacted production processes.
As of yesterday, 22 June, the company had 342,366,344 ordinary shares of £0.01 each in issue with voting rights. Shareholders had been invited to submit questions to be asked at the annual general meeting but none were received.
The Annual Report & Accounts 2022 contains a statement of directors’ responsibility by Darcy and Kristian, by order of the board: “We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:
- The financial statements, prepared in accordance with the applicable set of accounting standards, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and
- The Strategic Report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the issuer and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.
“We consider the Annual Report & Accounts, taken as a whole, is fair, balanced and understandable and provides the information necessary for shareholders to assess the group’s position and performance, business model and strategy.”
Card Factory’s annual report and accounts are available via the company’s investor relations website www.cardfactoryinvestors.com.
