02 April 2015
Our client is a 1/3rd shareholder in a company. She had previously been a director but was voted out by the remaining 2 directors. As a shareholder she has tried without success to obtain a copy of the company's 2014 financial statement and has not been advised of a date for the annual meeting.
Is there a specific section in the Corporations Act to enable our client to demand the financial statement?
And if the financial statement is still not forthcoming, would the next step be to seek an order at the Supreme Court?
Section 315 requires a company to provide financial reports to members. Members may also direct a company to provide a report under s 293. The direction may require the report be audited.
The remedies available to a minority shareholder are set out in s 233. The grounds for such orders are set out in s232. A refusal to provide a financial report (particularly when a s 293 direction has been given) will support an application for an order under s 233.
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