Shareholder information
History
Signet Group plc, an English public limited company, has operations in the US and the UK and in 2007/08 the geographic split of revenue and profit was approximately 75% and 25% respectively. The Company was incorporated in England and Wales on 27 January 1950 under the name Ratners (Jewellers) Limited. The name of the Company was changed on 10 December 1981 to Ratners (Jewellers) Public Limited Company, on 9 February 1987 to Ratners Group plc and on 10 September 1993 to Signet Group plc and the Company is governed by the Companies Acts 1985 and 2006.
The Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, which were adopted on 8 June 2007, are available on the Group’s website. The Company’s registered number is 477692. The Company’s registered office is 15 Golden Square, London W1F 9JG.
Significant events that have occurred in the last five years are detailed below:
| 9 Jan 2003 | Robert Anderson was appointed as Chief Executive of the UK division. |
| 1 Sept 2003 | Dale Hilpert was appointed to the Board as a non-executive director. |
| 8 Jan 2004 | Lee Abraham retired from the Board as a non-executive director. |
| 28 Sept 2004 | The Group entered into a $390 million unsecured multi-currency five year revolving credit facility agreement. This replaced the $410 million facility that was due to expire in August 2006. The terms of this agreement were broadly similar to those of the facility being replaced. |
| 8 Oct 2004 | The Group announced a change in its American Depositary Share Ratio from 30:1 to 10:1 to become effective from 18 October 2004. |
| 18 Oct 2004 | The Group announced its intention to list its ADSs on the NYSE from 16 November 2004, under the ticker symbol SIG. It was confirmed that the ADS ratio change had become effective on 18 October and that Deutsche Bank had recently been appointed as the depositary bank for Signet's ADSs. |
| 1 Nov 2004 | Robert Walker was appointed to the Board as a non-executive director. |
| 6 April 2005 | James McAdam announced his intention to retire from the Board no later than at the conclusion of the annual general meeting on 9 June 2006. Robert Anderson was appointed to the Board. |
| 7 Sept 2005 | H. Samuel launched online shopping at its website www.hsamuel.co.uk. |
| 28 Nov 2005 | Malcolm Williamson was appointed to the Board as a non-executive director. |
| 12 Jan 2006 | Mark Light was appointed Chief Executive of the US Division and to the Board. |
| 30 March 2006 | The Group entered into a $380 million US Private Placement Note Term Series Purchase Agreement, funding date 23 May 2006, to refinance the maturing securitisation programme and for general corporate purposes. |
| 5 April 2006 | The Group announced the appointment of Malcolm Williamson as Chairman with effect from the annual general meeting on 9 June 2006 subject to his election as a director at that annual general meeting. |
| 9 June 2006 | James McAdam retired from the Board and Malcolm Williamson was appointed as Chairman. |
| 17 July 2006 | The Group announced that it was commencing a buyback of up to £50 million of its ordinary shares. The shares would either be cancelled or held in treasury. |
| 5 Sept 2006 | Kay launched online shopping at its website www.kay.com |
| 14 Sept 2006 | Ernest Jones launched online shopping at its website www.ernestjones.co.uk |
| 5 February 2007 | The Group redenominated its share capital in US dollars. The nominal value of an ordinary share changed from 0.5 pence to 0.9 cents per share. |
| 26 October 2007 | The Group entered into a 364 day $200 million asset backed variable funding note conduit securitisation facility for general corporate purposes. |
| 9 January 2008 | Lesley Knox was appointed to the Board as a non-executive director. |