Investors in two major US Internet Service Providers (ISPs), CenturyTel Inc and EarthLink Inc, have voted strongly in favour of a shareholder resolution which highlights Internet management practices at the ISPs and their role in Internet privacy and censorship. The resolutions, which were filed and voted on for the first time this year, attracted 30.49% […]
Read MorePartner for Financial Stability has released its latest finding on reporting quality in Central and Eastern Europe, noting a significant increase in the number of CEE blue chip companies issuing stand-alone English-language environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports. The number of companies offering an English report has now reach 41 compared with 28 companies in September 2008. In […]
Read MoreTUI’s Hanover AGM was finally closed by the chairman at 21:00 on 13 May having started at noon. Monteray Enterprises, TUI’s largest shareholder, failed in its efforts to remove two members of Supervisory Board; appoint two representatives of Monteray to the Supervisory Board; and to request two ‘Special Audits’. According to the official results, turnout at the meeting […]
Read MoreNot so very long ago the AGM season passed the greater world largely unnoticed. Then in 1995 came the Cedric the pig, the mixed metaphor’d ‘fat cat with his snout in the trough’. We have then seen Hugh and his followers with their chickens at Tesco and this year, Fortis shareholders arming themselves with coins, […]
Read MoreEuropean Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has gone public with his concerns about role and structure of the International Accounting Standards Board. In his usual direct way McCreevy has pointed out that: “Accounting is now far too important to be left solely to accountants!” Speaking at a recent European Commission’s conference, Financial Reporting in a Changing World, […]
Read MoreIf Democratic New York Senator Charles ‘Chuck’ E Schumer has his way, shareholders of US-quoted companies can expect to see their ownership rights significantly enhanced. Schumer’s move was flagged in late April but reports are coming in that the Bill will be presented this week. Schumer’s Shareholder Bill of Rights Act of 2009 has a very clearly stated goal: […]
Read MoreHalf of Europe’s biggest banks have changed their chief executive or chairman in the past 12 months, leaving question marks over their leadership experience just as the first signs emerge of an economic recovery. Ten of Europe’s 20 largest banks by market capitalization or scale of investment banking operations have appointed new heads during the […]
Read MoreThe Securities and Exchange Commission has charged INTECH Investment Management LLC, a Florida based investment advisor with violating its proxy rules after it was found that it failed to describe its voting policies and procedures as well as failing to manage and disclose a major conflict of interest. After receiving complaints from some of the manager’s union-affiliated clients about its pro-management proxy […]
Read MoreThe Institute of Directors in South Africa has published drafts of the King III Report and King III Code on Corporate Governance. Shareholders are being offered a chance for a say on pay but it won’t be mandatory. The draft code states that shareholders “should approve the company’s remuneration policy”, while noting that the Board is […]
Read MoreManifest’s request for global shareholders to have a “Say on Pay” at Irish companies has its first success; DCC Group plc has confirmed that they will be allowing a shareholder vote on the directors remuneration report at this summer’s AGM. It is understood that this will be proposed as a management-sponsored resolution which is greatly […]
Read More