The LAPFF took their place in the governance history books today. Although they failed to come close to the super-majority needed to have their resolution calling for an independent chair passed, they have achieved a remarkable result. Taking into account the abstain votes, total dissent is practically double the highest previously recorded for a FTSE […]
Read MoreGovernance veteran Bob Monks recently attended the London Business School’s Colloquium on Corporate Governance, an invitation-only event comprising 75 of the leading governmental, private sector business and investors in the UK who convened to consider recent governance failings. Bob was asked to present the key note address at the opening night dinner. What he said will come as no […]
Read MoreResolution 8 at today’s AGM covers the re-election of Louise Patten, chair of the remuneration committee, who has overseen the unpopular payouts of the performance/retention awards. ‘These are clearly retention awards, not exceptional awards and they should have just been honest and said so,’ says Manifest’s Wilson. ‘Just one vote over the 50% would see […]
Read MoreTesco’s AGM today saw the largest against vote (41.03%) against a share plan at a FTSE 100 company since Manifest began collecting voting data in 1996. When analysed including abstentions, it was the largest rebellion in the FTSE 100 in 2009 and the biggest since Royal Dutch Shell in May 2008. At Shell however, votes […]
Read MoreThree AGMs have this week seen shareholder dissent reach notable levels. Home Retail Group shareholders voted to approve the remuneration report, but dissent represented the fifth biggest rebellion on the remuneration report in the FTSE 100 so far in 2009. Total dissent of 40.49% was split between against 32.99% and abstentions 7.5%. The Company had […]
Read MoreSome 18 Japanese companies are known to have disclosed the results of their 2009 AGMs on their corporate websites, in what is an improvement from two companies on 2008 according to Sumitomo Trust. Japanese regulators are expected to introduce a rule on disclosure of proxy voting results ahead of Japan’s 2010 AGM season. The data […]
Read MoreIn response to the widespread criticism from government and media over the role of investors in the financial crisis, the UK’s National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has released research which show that just under half (49%) of its bigger pension scheme members will spend more time scrutinising the actions of their fund managers on engagement […]
Read MoreIn a widely anticipated move, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has moved forward with an aggressive reform program to update the US proxy system. The SEC met today (01/07/09) to approve the New York Stock Exchange’s proposal regarding broker discretionary voting in uncontested director elections (NYSE Rule 452). In addition to the introduction of […]
Read MoreThe Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute and PROXY Governance Inc. have released a new in-depth analysis of the proxy voting policies and recent voting records of seven of the largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) sponsors in the US. The findings indicate a considerable variation in the voting patterns and philosophies of these funds. The study covers the […]
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