Companies (Amendment) Act, 1983

Obligation to convene extraordinary general meeting in event of serious loss of capital.

40.—(1) Subject to subsection (4), where the net assets of a company are half or less of the amount of the company's called-up share capital, the directors of the company shall, not later than 28 days from the earliest day on which that fact is known to a director of the company, duly convene an extraordinary general meeting of the company for a date not later than 56 days from that day for thepurpose of considering whether any, and if so what, measures should be taken to deal with the situation.

(2) If there is a failure to convene an extraordinary general meeting of a company as required by subsection (1), each of the directors of the company who—

(a) knowingly and wilfully authorises or permits that failure; or

(b) after the expiry of the period during which that meeting should have been convened, knowingly and wilfully authorises or permits that failure to continue,

shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be taken as authorising the consideration, at a meeting convened in pursuance of subsection (1), of any matter which could not have been considered at that meeting apart from this section.

(4) This section shall not apply where the day mentioned in subsection (1) is before the appointed day.