Letter to ordinary shareholders (November 2006)
22 November 2006
Dear Shareholder,
Please find enclosed your 2006 interim dividend details.
First of all, I wanted to let you know of a decision that Gallaher has taken regarding one of the publications sent to shareholders on an annual basis. This relates to the annual general meeting (“AGM”) report (the ‘glossy’ booklet that accompanied your final dividend details in May).
The wording in this report is a duplicate of the chairman’s AGM statement which is issued as a news release on the day of the AGM each year. Bearing in mind that an increasing number of people already prefer on-line access to financial publications (including news releases), and as ceasing the printing and mailing of a glossy report will be cost-effective, we have decided to discontinue printing the report.
Because this is a news release, it is available just after issue on the investor relations section (http://www.gallaher-group.com/ir) of the Group website – and will be highlighted in ‘latest news’ (on the right hand side of the home page with a direct link to the release). You could also sign up for the e-mail alert service (also located on the investor relations home page) which would ensure that you get notified by e-mail as soon as Gallaher issues a news release, including the chairman’s AGM statement.
Alternatively, if you do not have access to the internet, please contact the investor relations department at the time, and you will be sent a hard copy of the AGM news release through the post.
Secondly, if you were a shareholder at this time last year, my apologies for repeating some of the contents of the letter sent to you in November 2005, but if you have joined us as a shareholder since that time, welcome, and I hope you find the information below of interest.
We are constantly looking for ways in which the Company can both help the environment and enhance shareholder value through efficiency measures, and, for the second year running, Gallaher has decided to support Climate Care. Climate Care is a non-profit making organisation that has adopted a portfolio of different projects around the world to fund energy efficiency, sustainable energy and forest restoration projects. Further detail on these projects can be found on its website (www.climatecare.org).
Gallaher’s support, which will also ultimately benefit shareholders, is taking place in the following ways:
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-Electronic versions of the financial publications
For every shareholder who elects to receive an electronic version of all future financial publications before 31 December 2006, Gallaher will contribute £10.00 to Climate Care.
If you would like to receive future financial publications electronically, rather than the hard copy through the post, then all you need to do is visit www.capitaregistrars.com and go to the shareholder part of the site. Follow the instructions to register your e-mail address to sign up for electronic communications.
This will, of course, reduce printing and postage costs – thus benefiting all Gallaher’s shareholders
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-Multiple accounts
For every shareholder who appears on the share register more than once and amalgamates their accounts into one before 31 December 2006, Gallaher will, again, contribute £10.00 to Climate Care.
As a shareholder, if you receive more than one copy of documentation in relation to your shareholding in Gallaher Group Plc, the reason is probably because Gallaher’s registrars have more than one account for you – it could simply be a slight difference in the registration details of your name or address.
Amalgamating multiple accounts saves unnecessary costs relating to printing, postage, etc., and if you believe this is the case, please call the registrars’ helpline (0870 1623100) for advice, or e-mail (ssd@capitaregistrars.com).
There are, of course, other services that are provided to assist Gallaher’s shareholders. For example:
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-our registrars, Capita Registrars, offer a dividend re-investment programme and on-line or telephone share dealing. For more information, please go to Capita’s website (www.capitaregistrars.com), Gallaher’s investor relations website (http://www.gallaher-group.com/ir), or call the registrars’ helpline on 0870 1623100; and,
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-Gallaher offers an e-mail alert service (mentioned near the beginning of the letter) relating to Company news and an SMS share price alert service that anyone can subscribe to by logging onto the Gallaher investor relations website (details given above).
If you would like to know more about Gallaher’s corporate responsibility activities, and, in particular, about our commitment to the effective management of environment, health and safety (“EHS”) matters, please go to our website (www.gallaher-group.com) where the Group’s corporate responsibility and EHS reports are published.
Finally, I wrote to all of our shareholders in May of this year, as we had been made aware that our share register had possibly been (quite legally) obtained and was being used by companies to send unsolicited letters or to make unsolicited calls to our shareholders relating to share dealing.
To follow up on this issue, I thought you might be interested to know that the Institute of Company Secretaries and Administrators (“ICSA”) Registrars Group has produced a warning about the companies (sometimes known as ‘boiler rooms’) that send these letters or make these calls – the details of which can be found at:
We have also placed a document on this subject on our website – which can be found at:
If you do not have access to the internet, and would like a hard copy of these documents, then please contact us.
I hope you have found the contents of this letter useful and interesting. If you have any queries relating to any of the above or something not mentioned, you can always call Jacky Stockman in the investor relations department at Gallaher for assistance (+44 (0) 1932 372000).
Finally, I should like to thank you for your continued support of Gallaher Group Plc.
Yours faithfully,
Claire Jenkins
Director, investor relations
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