F&C Commercial Property Trust shareholders vote for continuation

At an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Friday 1 May, investors in F&C Commercial Property Trust voted overwhelmingly in favour of continuing the company.

A continuation vote was triggered because, following the first anniversary of its previous continuation vote in September 2007, the company had traded at a discount to net asset value of more than 5% for 90 consecutive days.

Some 94.5% of shareholders voted in favour of continuation, with 5.48% voting against. Stripping out the effect of votes from Friends Provident, which owns roughly half the company, and F&C Asset Management, the proportion in favour was 79.7%.

A second resolution, changing the terms of future continuation votes, was also passed. A continuation vote will now be triggered if the trust trades at a discount to net asset value of more than 5% for 90 consecutive days following the second anniversary, rather than the first anniversary, of the last continuation vote. This secures the company's future until at least 2011. Some 91.3% of shareholders were in favour of this resolution, or 67.5% of those unconnected with Friends Provident or F&C.

F&C Commercial Property Trust, launched in March 2005, is managed by Richard Kirby at F&C REIT Asset Management. From launch to 31 December 2008 the NAV total return per share (with dividends reinvested) was 5.0%, compared with the total return on the FTSE All-Share index over this period of 1.4%. The current dividend yield on F&C Commercial Property Trust is 8.1% (based on a share price of 73.75p on 6 May 2009).