Cattles plc has announced a clear-out of its Board following the completion of a forensic review into its impairment provisions: Norman Broadhurst (Chairman), who previously announced he intended to retire at the AGM, has stood down from the board with immediate effect. David Postings (Chief Executive) is leaving the company with immediate effect, although will […]
Read MoreThe UK’s trade union federation, the TUC has published its 2008 fund manager voting survey and found investors wanting. For the seventh year the TUC’s investment team has analysed the voting records of 20 fund managers and pensions funds for the period July 2007 and July 2008, which included votes on banks’ remuneration reports and the […]
Read MoreAngry shareholder groups are calling on regulators to overhaul rules that mean UK companies can provide dramatically different information to investors in the U.S. and here. Sarah Wilson, chief executive of respected shareholder advisory group Manifest, described it as ‘a system of information arbitrage’, giving superior knowledge to one group of investors over another. At […]
Read MoreThe US Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness conference convened this week to look at the impact of shareholder activism and shareholder rights. Two interesting themes have emerged from reports of the conference, firstly research into the impact of shareholder resolutions and secondly comments from SEC Commissioner Troy Paredes criticizing the SEC’s proposal’s […]
Read MoreUS investors angered by the meltdown in the US financial markets have a new resource to campaign for better governance. ShareOwners.org is a social networking site based on Ning, the community web tool said to have played a central role in the success of President Obama’s election campaign. ShareOwners has some big names behind its campaign […]
Read More“He who dies with the most toys still dies” was a quote on the No Fear brand of T-shirts a few years ago. Funnily enough that saying came to mind when news of Amalgamated Bank’s shareholder proposals against “Golden Coffins” came out this week. For the uninitiated, a Golden Coffin, in exec comp terms, is […]
Read MoreConcerns about the corporate governance arrangements of AIM quoted companies will no doubt raise their head again after the public censure of Blue Oar Securities, the AIM Nominated Advisor (NOMAD) that last week changed its name to Astaire Securities. Blue Oar has been fined £225,000 by the London Stock Exchange for its handling of […]
Read MoreThe SEC has three key governance reforms on the agenda for its July 1 “Sunshine Act Meeting” : Item 1: The Commission will consider whether to propose amendments to the proxy rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to set forth requirements for U.S. registrants that have received financial assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program […]
Read MoreFollowing moves by US government last week to set pay limits at firms that have received TARP assistance, Mats Isaksson, OECD head of corporate affairs has given a public interview outlining the OECD’s view of the role of corporate governance and shareholders in the current financial crisis: What are the key corporate governance lessons from the financial […]
Read MoreToday’s climbdown by Marks & Spencer, courtesy of the decision of Steve Sharp and Stuart Rose to waive part of their Performance Share Plan awards, represents a victory for shareholders. However, the root cause of the problem – an over-generous Remuneration Committee – remains unresolved. Manifest highlighted in the Meeting Business Report prepared ahead of […]
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