First Seagull has withdrawn its attempt to oust three of Headlam’s non-executive directors – including chairman Stephen Bird – claiming irregularities in the proxy voting process for the group’s general meeting.
Headlam says it has no knowledge of any problems with the vote, which will happen on Tuesday at 11am.
FS, which owns 11% of shares, says: ‘On proxyvote .com, the same resolutions have appeared under two designations (“Special” and “Extraordinary” General Meeting) with conflicting recommendations, and votes validly cast have subsequently been reset and nullified without notification. A material volume of votes may have been impacted by this, says FS.
‘It raises serious concerns regarding the validity of the results. We will provide an update when we know more.’
Headlam says it ‘is not aware of any voting issues or irregularities associated with the general meeting. The company has appointed its usual third-party registrars for the general meeting and notes that as at 11am (London time) on 29 May 2026, the latest time for electronic proxy appointments, there had been a high turnout with a higher number of shares voted than at the company’s recent AGM.
‘Whilst the company welcomes FS’s intention to withdraw, the company has given valid notice of the general meeting and therefore it must go ahead as planned. The results of the general meeting will be announced as soon as possible after the meeting.’
Last month’s AGM saw Bird obtain 56.66% of votes for his re-election, while Jemima Bird and Karen Hubbard, were re-elected with 66.3% of votes cast.
The general meeting – to be held at its Coleshill head office which it is considering selling and leasing back to raise funds to improve its balance sheet – was called by FS. It wants to replace Bird, and two other non-executive directors, accusing the board of overseeing a massive loss of shareholder value, lacking the skills to turnaround the fortune of the flooring distributor.
It wanted to replace the trio with its md Stian Husvaeg, and Andrea Davis.
