Claims of RJI irregularities

Press, 27 July 1989, Page 35

Claims of RJI irregularities

Several shareholders have complained to the Stock Exchange about anomalies in the Robt Jones Investments “loyalty” bonus share scheme. The company has announced that 20.6 M shares were issued in the one-for-10 scheme. Only shareholders who had held their scrip for two years at April I were eligible. Mr Roger Gill, the executive director of the Stock Exchange, said the main complaint was that the date on each certificate was used as the indicator of the purchase date.

For instance, if a shareholder consolidates several holdings on to the one certificate, or sells part of their holding and receives a new certificate for the remainder, he or she must wait two years from the new date — regardless of when the original shares were bought. The exchange had taken up the individual complaints with Robt Jones Investments, Mr Gill said.

The secretary of RJI, Mr Dan Twigg, said in the annual report that the company was committed to standing firm on the issue.

“When the scheme was

first outlined we stressed that it could only be entertained if, regardless of circumstances, the certificate date became sacrosanct as the date of eligibility.

“To do otherwise would demand a sizeable clerical investigative staff and extensive registrar work at an estimated cost of several million dollars,” he said.

Mr Twigg said the rule meant the majority of shareholders had been slow to receive their bonus shares, “including all directors.”

Those who forget to send in their certificates by June 30 missed out. Mr Twigg said that RJI calculations indicated at least 86 per cent of eligible shareholders had applied for shares in the first issue. Certificates for 206 million shares were handed over. At March 31, 1987, the company had 460.3 million shares on issue, but it was impossible to tell at a glance how many of those have been transferred or have had new certificates issued since then.

The chairman of RJI, Sir Robert Jones, said the loyalty bonus was a success, and would be followed by a superior version later in the year.