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This announcement is not an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to acquire, securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction in which the same would be unlawful. Neither this announcement, nor any part of it, shall form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, or act as an inducement to enter into, any contract or commitment whatsoever.
20 November 2023
ABRDN SMALLER COMPANIES INCOME TRUST PLC
Legal Entity Identifier: 213800J6D2TVHRGKBG24
Result of First General Meeting
In connection with the proposals for the voluntary winding-up of abrdn Smaller Companies Income Trust plc ("ASCI" or the "Company") and combination with Shires Income plc ("Shires" or "SHRS") by way of a scheme of reconstruction of the Company under Section 110 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the "Scheme"), the Company is pleased to announce the result of the First General Meeting.
The Company announces the resolutions proposed at the First General Meeting held today, have been approved by Shareholders. Details of the number of votes cast for, against and withheld in respect of the resolutions, which were each held on a poll, is set out below and will also be published on the Company's website www.abrdnsmallercompaniesincome.co.uk.
| Resolution | Votes For (including Discretionary) | % | Votes Against | % | Votes Total | % Issued Share Capital represented by Votes Total1 | Votes Withheld2 |
| To approve the Related Party Transaction | 4,249,809 | 98.16 | 79,464 | 1.84 | 4,329,273 | 19.58% | 8,072 |
| To approve the reclassification of the shares in the capital of the Company as shares with "A" rights, shares with "B" rights and shares with "C" rights, and to approve changes required to the Company's articles of association. | 7,251,948 | 98.93 | 78,368 | 1.07 | 7,330,316 | 33.15% | 17,405 |
| To approve the Scheme subject to certain conditions being satisfied. | 7,262,351 | 98.93 | 78,368 | 1.07 | 7,340,719 | 33.20% | 7,002 |
1. The number of Ordinary Shares in issue as at the voting record time of 6.30 p.m. (London time) on 16 November 2023 (the "Voting Record Time") was 22,109,765. As at that date no shares were held in treasury. Therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company as at the Voting Record Time was 22,109,765.
2. A 'vote withheld' is not a vote in law and will not be counted in the calculation of the proportion of the votes for and against a resolution.
3. As at the Voting Record Time, Independent Shareholders held 19,096,039 Ordinary Shares representing 86.4% per cent. of the Company's issued share capital as at the Voting Record Time.
On 30 October 2023 the Board announced that, subject to the passing of the resolutions at the First General Meeting, a Pre-liquidation Dividend of 14.75p per Ordinary share in respect of the year to 31 December 2023 would be paid to Shareholders (on the register as at close of business on 10 November 2023) on 24 November 2023. This condition has been satisfied.
The Ordinary Shares will be disabled for settlement in CREST from 6:00 p.m. on 24 November 2023 and trading will be suspended from 7.30 a.m. on 27 November 2023. Following the reclassification of the Ordinary Shares on 30 November 2023, the Reclassified Shares will be suspended from listing at 7.30 a.m. on 1 December 2023.
The full text of the ordinary and special resolutions of the First General Meeting are set out in the Notice of First General Meeting, contained in the Company's circular to Shareholders dated 17 October 2023 (the "Circular").
The Circular is available for viewing on the Company's website, www.abrdnsmallercompaniesincome.co.uk and at the National Storage Mechanism at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.
Defined terms used in this announcement have the meanings given in the Circular unless the context otherwise requires.
For further information:
| abrdn Smaller Companies Income Trust plc Dagmar Kent Kershaw, Chair
| 0131 372 2200 |
| |
| Winterflood Securities Neil Morgan |
0203 100 0000 | | |
| General The content of the Company's web-pages and the content of any website or pages which may be accessed through hyperlinks on the Company's web-pages, other than the content of the document referred to above, is neither incorporated into nor forms part of the above announcement. |
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