Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. Urges Shareholders to Help Improve Corporate Governance and Shareholder Returns at Argonaut Gold Inc.

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Apr 21, 2015, 07:00 ET

MONTREAL, April 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. ("MBI") confirmed today that it requested the addition of five items to the agenda (the "Proposals") of the next annual general meeting of shareholders ("AGM") of Argonaut Gold Inc. ("Argonaut" or the "Company") to be held in Toronto on May 5, 2015.

Upon analysing Argonaut's corporate governance practices, Montrusco Bolton found a number of shortcomings in the 2014 management proxy circular when compared with similar companies in the same sector. Montrusco Bolton has had several discussions with three of Argonaut's board members. Given the mixed results of our discussion with the said Argonaut board members, Monstrusco Bolton has decided to proceed and present five proposals to Argonaut's shareholders.

These proposals aim to improve corporate governance and ultimately future shareholder returns at Argonaut. MBI believes that these measures are essential preliminary steps to ensure that Argonaut's business fundamentals do not deteriorate further.

The Proposals are:

Annual Advisory Shareholder Vote on Executive Compensation ("Say on Pay")
Minimum Share Ownership for CEO
Disclosure of KPIs used to assess Performance-Based Portion of CEO Compensation
The Dilution Safeguard Proposal
Rechtsstaat Standards for International Investments

The full text of today's MBI press release, including detailed support of the Proposals, is available at www.montruscobolton.com under section Publications/Press Releases/ Corporate Governance - Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. Urges Shareholders to Help Improve Corporate Governance and Shareholder Returns at Argonaut Gold Inc.

In regards to our analysis, we believe that the company has faced operational challenges that have affected not only the earnings but also the overall financial performance of the company. We also believe that the company's latest acquisitions were not in the best interest of the shareholders in terms of capital allocation. In addition to the dilution of existing shares, it resulted in the deterioration of several financial metrics, such as ROE and ROIC. As a result, Argonaut Gold generated lower return to their shareholders, compared to their peers and to the price of gold.

Montrusco Bolton is committed to adding value by engaging collaboratively with the companies in which it invests.

SOURCE Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc.