888 shareholders overwhelmingly back rebrand to evoke plc
William Hill owner to rebrand after more than 99% of shareholders back proposal first laid out in company’s value creation plan in March
888 will officially rebrand as evoke after more than 99% of shareholders gave their backing to the special resolution at the company’s AGM today, 13 May.
The London-listed firm announced 99.79% of shareholders holding 284,646,548 shares in the business approved the special resolution. Just 0.21% of shareholders voted against the move.
As a result, 888 will now formally change its name to evoke plc and begin trading on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker EVOK.
The rebranding was first announced as part of the group’s value creation plan that was made public in March.
At the time, the business said the shift to evoke would “better reflect the strength of the group’s multi-brand operating model and its vision and mission to make life more interesting by delighting players with world-class betting and gaming experiences”.
In a LinkedIn post made today, 13 May, the company’s profile posted: “Today, we officially start our next chapter as evoke plc. Evoke is a symbol of our new direction.
“A direction that builds on our strengths and allows us to move forward as one multi-brand group with a united strategy, vision and identity. We’re excited to share more from evoke in the weeks and months ahead.”
The move to evoke was just one spoke of CEO Per Widerström’s new strategy to deliver value for the business since he took the top job back in October.
The new boss has also gone about building his senior leadership team, including CFO Sean Wilkins, who, alongside Widerström, each received shareholder approval to become a director at the company.
Chairman Lord Mendelsohn, Anne de Kerckhove, Mark Summerfield, Limor Ganot, Andrea Gisle Joosen and Ori Shaked were all re-elected to the board during the AGM.
However, evoke shareholders failed to back two special resolutions after more 25% of votes were cast against the board’s recommendations. Both resolutions were backed by 71.62% of shareholders, short by just 3.38% required to pass.
One was to “renew the directors’ authority to allot equity securities for cash without first offering them to shareholders, as set out in the notice of meeting”, and the other to “renew the directors’ authority to allot equity securities for cash in connection with an eligible acquisition or specified capital investment without first offering them to shareholders, as set out in the notice of meeting”.
In an appendix attached the confirmation of the voting, evoke said: “The board takes the outcome of shareholder votes extremely seriously and will engage with shareholders and shareholder advisory bodies to ensure their feedback continues to inform the company’s approach to governance.”