Investors showed their concerns over executive pay at more AGMs this week. The largest rebellion was at bookmaker Ladbrokes which faced a 42% vote against its remuneration report – this was just above the 40% vote against received last year. Ladbrokes has agreed to merge with another betting company, Coral, and stated in its annual report that […]

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Campaigners from the pressure group, Campaign against the Arms Trade (CAAT), which is calling for the UK to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia, took their fight to the BAE Systems AGM last Wednesday. CAAT had bought shares in the company allowing campaigners to attend the AGM. The protestors held placards up protesting against Saudi Arabia’s […]

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The Dutch corporate governance code monitoring committee is currently revising its country’s corporate governance code – first released in 2003 – following a consultation on the proposed changes which ended last month. The committee is expected to publish the finalised version in the autumn. The code has been written based on the traditional two-tier board structure however the committee […]

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The London Stock Exchange-owned FTSE Russell has launched the FTSE Divest-Invest index which will reduce investors exposure to fossil fuel companies while also increasing exposure within the index to companies engaged in the transition to a green economy. FTSE Russell said it was able to achieve this using data captured from its new green revenue data model, called […]

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Mining group, Rio Tinto, which is dual-listed in the UK and Australia, avoided a large scale rebellion over its remuneration report although there was a higher level of dissension than in previous years. The voting results were announced following the Australian AGM – Rio Tinto plc held its AGM last month. The resolutions – one […]

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The Financial Reporting Council’s pre-emption group (PEG) has released a report showing the progress of implementation of the Statement of Principles (principles), which were updated in 2015 to reflect market changes. The PEG found that the revised principles were largely adhered to while the FRC said the report’s findings showed the importance of open dialogue and engagement between investors and […]

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Has the UK’s pay simplification project hit the buffers before leaving the station? Last week’s unprecedented result at the AGM of Weir plc – 72.3% against the  remuneration policy vote and 72.24% agains the vote on LTIP amendments (both binding votes) raises some challenging questions for the UK’s pay simplification project currently sponsored by the […]

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Shareholders have again showed their discontent over excessive executive pay packages with large votes opposing remuneration reports and policies. Engineering company Weir lost its binding vote on its remuneration policy – with a 72% vote against – while at building materials supplier CRH there was a 41% vote in opposition to its policy although in its case the vote […]

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ShareSoc, which represents individual investors, raised concerns about the regulation of the AIM smaller company market at the recent London Stock Exchange (LSE) AGM. The organisation’s director, Mark Bentley, accused the LSE of failing in its function as operator and regulator of the AIM market. Speaking at LSE’s AGM Bentley said,  “Why does the LSE not do […]

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…as the UK’s Financial Reporting Council finalises auditor rules The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published final drafts of the latest UK corporate governance code and the associated guidance on audit committees so they will meet the requirements of forthcoming legislation on audit committees and auditor appointments. This forms part of the UK’s implementation of the EU’s […]

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