Vernon Sankey has stepped down as chairman of Photo-Me International with immediate effect, prompting the photo booth operator’s principal shareholders to withdraw an EGM requisition seeking his removal. Cycladic Capital and Principle Capital were seeking the immediate removal of both Sankey and the company’s chief executive, Serge Crasnianski. Sankey will be replaced on an interim […]
Read MoreFactors such as new investors and expansion into overseas markets have opened the door to different varieties of fraud, and four out of five companies worldwide have been hit by some form of corporate fraud in the last three years, according to a survey by risk consultancy Kroll. On average, large companies — with annual […]
Read MoreCalPERS, the activist US pension fund, filed nearly double the number of shareholder proposals in 2006/07 as in the previous 12 months. What is more, all of the six CalPERS proposals that appeared on proxy ballots in the first half of 2007 received investor votes averaging over 60%. This includes shareholder support of 77% for […]
Read MoreThe Social Investment Forum (SIF) and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility have launched a website – www.SaveShareholderRights.org – as part of a campaign to oppose controversial US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposals they argue would seriously undermine investor rights. The groups are campaigning against three SEC proposals open for comment until 2 October. […]
Read MoreTop UK companies are increasingly incorporating non-financial factors such as customer satisfaction into executive bonus plans, accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has found. PwC’s research revealed that the number of companies offering bonus plans based on purely financial measures has halved over the past year, falling from 33% in 2005/06 to 17% in 2006/07. This has […]
Read MorePension funds surveyed by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) are working more closely with the companies they invest in to actively promote corporate governance. More than three quarters of these funds have helped change remuneration packages, board membership or corporate strategy, and eight out of ten funds believe governance standards are continuing to […]
Read MoreNasdaq, the US exchange, wishes to divest its 31% stake in the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Nasdaq built up its stake earlier this year during the course of an unsuccessful takeover bid, and earlier in August backed an LSE/Borsa Italiana merger that will significantly dilute this holding. Nasdaq said that it does not believe the […]
Read MoreSome 23% of FTSE 350 companies are not adequately reporting to shareholders on the activities of their audit committees, producing in effect little more than a summary of the committees’ terms of reference, research by the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) has found. The LAPFF also found that the standard of audit committee reporting […]
Read MoreManifest-I presents a summary of recently released academic papers on international corporate governance and corporate social responsibility issues. Reputational Sanctions in China’s Securities Market Benjamin Liebman and Curtis Milhaupt, Columbia Law School Public criticism of listed companies by the Shanghai and Shenzen exchanges is having a significant effect on corporations and their executives, according to […]
Read MoreLarge companies would be forced to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions to a common standard under proposals by Conservative Party think tank the Quality of Life Policy Group. The Group, chaired by former environment minister John Gummer, was formed by David Cameron to provide independent input to the Conservatives on every aspect of the “quality […]
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