Over 200 Staffordshire Members attended the Special General Meeting (“SGM”) at the Ringside Suite, Dunstall Park to listen to the Board of the Staffordshire deliver its rationale on the merger and the reasons why it unanimously supported the merger with Portman before putting the vote to members via a poll. Both resolutions were overwhelmingly approved by the Staffordshire members.
Subject to confirmation by the FSA, the effective date for the merger is expected to be 31 December 2003. It is expected that the merger bonus payments will be made within 14 days of this date and will be paid to approximately 150,000 Shareholding Members and 28,000 Borrowing Members of the Staffordshire which will result in the distribution of approximately £65 million of the Society’s reserves back to its members.
At completion of the merger, Staffordshire Building Society’s operations will become known as ‘The Staffordshire’, a division of Portman Group. A local board will be established to monitor Staffordshire’s members’ interests and to act as an adviser to the Board of Portman in relation to the business of ‘The Staffordshire’. This local board will be made up of all the Directors of the Staffordshire immediately prior to the merger together with Robert Sharpe, Chief Executive of Portman.
At the same time, Rob Yates, Chairman of Staffordshire and Bill Snaith, Chief Executive of Staffordshire will join the Main Board of Portman; Mr Snaith will also become Managing Director of “The Staffordshire”.
In his address to members at the SGM, Rob Yates, Chairman of the Staffordshire said:
“Both the Staffordshire and Portman have proud histories as mutual organisations and are committed to delivering the benefits of mutuality not only to members through competitively priced products and high levels of customer service, but also to the wider communities in which we both operate.”
“The merger with Portman is in the best interests of the Staffordshire. It presents a very exciting opportunity to further develop our business and to widen our product range and services to both members and customers. We also expect to be able to offer our staff enhanced career opportunities within the enlarged Group.”
“Both the Staffordshire and Portman have a long-standing reputation for offering market leading competitive products to our members and often both societies appear in the national press ‘best buy’ tables for mortgage and savings products.”
“In addition, since neither the Staffordshire nor Portman have branches in the same location, the Portman has undertaken that there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of this merger either at Staffordshire’s head office in Wolverhampton or at any of Staffordshire’s branch offices for at least three years from following the merger.”
Bill Snaith, Staffordshire’s Chief Executive added:
“I believe that we have a very exciting future ahead of us.”
“Portman has made it clear that it wishes to invest and develop the Staffordshire business. The retention of our strong brand, our established loyal customer base and the impressive skill set of our employees provides a solid foundation from which the combined society can build upon and exploit particularly within the Midland’s region.”
“Portman’s commitment, has already been underpinned by today’s announcement that it is planning to relocate, during the first quarter of 2004, Portman’s direct mortgage sales distribution channel from Bournemouth to Wolverhampton, resulting in the creation of over 20 new posts at the Staffordshire’s head office in Wolverhampton.”
Robert Sharpe, Chief Executive, Portman Building Society added:
“I am very much looking forward to working with all the people at the Staffordshire. I am confident that both the Portman and Staffordshire teams can create a very successful working partnership.”
“More importantly, the merger is excellent news for the members of both societies – not only will they benefit from the economies of scale and an increased asset base but through the strong Staffordshire name our presence in the region is significantly strengthened. Members of both societies will have an expanded network of branches which will also provide an enhanced distribution channel for all the enlarged Group’s products and services.”
“As a group, we will also be in a better position to manage the on-going challenges of regulation and information technology whilst at the same time growing the business in what is a highly competitive market, where we must be seen to take the lead – a philosophy we continue to exploit.”
“The creation of new posts in Wolverhampton in 2004 clearly underpins our commitment to the region.”
