The trouble with proxy advisors…. Is that everyone loves to hate them but, investors at least, can’t actually do their jobs without them. If we didn’t exist we’d have to be invented. So, what’s to be done? Yes, true, that opening statement was an enormous over-simplification, but the time has come to properly upack all […]
Read MoreMany column inches were dedicated to the news that Angela Ahrendts, Chief Executive of Burberry, is quitting to join Apple next year. It’s got us reflecting on where is the real story here, especially from a governance perspective. The Burberry chief was prominent in the news earlier this year because our Total Remuneration Survey identified […]
Read MoreShareholders looking for a more joined up approach to corporate reporting have, hopefully, not much longer to wait after the introduction of the UK’s Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013 Business Minister Jo Swinson outlined the Coalition’s rationale for the reforms when the regulations were laid before Parliament earlier this year: […]
Read MoreGuest post by Damien Knight of MM&K At last, ‘quoted companies’ (i.e. UK incorporated companies with a listing on a main exchange) are faced with the full reality of the UK Government’s new regime for directors’ remuneration reporting and binding votes on pay policy. One thing is certain – companies are going to have to […]
Read MoreIt hardly comes as a surprise that two in five UK plcs find that proxy analysts have a so-called “negative influence” on the relationship between companies and their investors (Financial Times: “Proxy agencies fail to tick boxes” July 1, 2013) However, Sir John Parker appears to misunderstand the role of governance analysts. As the Investment […]
Read MoreProbably the most un-noticed consequence of the battle around the ill-fated Royal Bank of Scotland acquisition of ABN-AMRO has been the subsequent limitation of shareholders’ rights in the Netherlands. At the start of July a number of significant amendments Dutch company law were introduced which will make it significantly harder for shareholders to table their […]
Read MoreThe update of the corporate governance code for French listed companies published this month by AFEP/MEDEF has raised some telling questions about the governance of governance across the channel. Viewed against a backdrop of an agressive campaign on the part of French issuers seemingly aimed at censuring proxy research providers, the arrangements for the enforcement of the new code are […]
Read MoreThe Swiss Federal Council recently published their “Proposal for an Ordinance against abusive remuneration practices” in response to the successful popular referendum on what has been dubbed the “Minder Initiative”. It is the first formal consultation stage ahead of the tabling of a formal legislative proposal, timetabled for November, in time for a January 1st 2014 implementation date. The […]
Read MoreBreaking new ground as the first country in the world to mandate disclosure of gross global emissions for the entire organisation in its annual report the UK government is pushing ahead with its business sustainability commitments and will, with effect from this autumn, make it obligatory for all UK quoted companies to disclose information regarding their CO2 […]
Read MoreEven more than its predecessors, Manifest and MM&K’s Total Remuneration Survey 2013 (May edition) deservedly earned headlines and an impressive array of coverage in the press after the launch earlier this week (even making it into Vogue, which must be a first for corporate governance research?!). However, one very important point which we made deserves particular […]
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