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Company Law Bill [HL]

I shall speak to Amendment No. A88 in the group. This would extend the period of three months that the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, would like to see to 12 months. We believe that events could take place whereby a 12-month period would be useful. If, however unlikely it may be, the Government announced that the country was going to adopt the euro at an appointed date in the future, most companies would have to redenominate their share capital. The most efficient way to do this would be to pass an appropriate resolution at the AGM rather than at an EGM specifically for that purpose. It would be extremely costly, particularly for large listed companies. The AGM may well take place long before the 15-day or even the three-month conditional period, so more flexibility over the period is needed. Therefore, while I support entirely what has been said by the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, given that this provision is not likely to be used very much, the maximum flexibility we can give would be better.