…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 […]
Read MoreThe 2016 AGM season started with major defeats for two FTSE100 companies. Last Thursday (14th April) oil giant BP and medical equipments supplier, Smith & Nephew saw their remuneration reports rejected by shareholders at their AGMs. At the BP AGM there was a 59% vote against the remuneration report and at Smith & Nephew 53% of shareholder votes […]
Read MoreInvestors vote on the first of three shareholder resolutions proposed at Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore AGMs this week calling for reporting by these mining companies into how they are managing carbon emissions and investing in low-carbon energy research and development. Rio Tinto at its AGM last Thursday (14th April) was the first company […]
Read MoreRailpen veteran, Frank Curtiss, who was most recently been its head of corporate governance, has retired. The pension fund has been at the forefront of active institutional investment and was one of the first to vote actively on its equity holdings in the UK and published a voting and corporate governance policy in 1992. Curtiss joined Railpen in […]
Read MoreThe UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has written to institutional investors highlighting the key issues they should be considering ahead of the peak season of company shareholder meetings. The letter from Stephen Hadrill, FRC chief executive, reminded investors that this is the first year of enhanced reporting on risk and internal control and the inclusion of a […]
Read MoreAs automatic-enrolment workplace pensions are rolled out to more employees UK pressure group, ShareAction, which campaigns to achieve ‘an investment system that truly serves savers and communities, and protects our environment for the long term’, has produced its first benchmarking survey of the market. The nine leading pension providers in this market were examined and an overall benchmark score […]
Read MoreShareholders in Australian companies are now more likely to have their votes taken on a poll by default instead of the traditional show of hands. Two-thirds of companies targeted by a global collaborative investor initiative have moved towards using polls, according to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI). The initiative was led by US pensions provider, TIAA, with […]
Read MoreSir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has used Easygroup’s, 12.6% stake in African no-frills airline, Fastjet, to call an extraordinary meeting (EGM) which seeks to remove its chief executive, Ed Winter, and its general counsel and company secretary, Krista Bates. The EGM resolutions seek Winter’s removal as a director as well as chief executive and for Bates to be removed as a […]
Read MoreLeading mutual funds and pension funds so far have taken little action to curb the pay of chief executives (CEOs) in the US according to a report by As You Sow, a non-profit organisation that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy. The report identifies the S&P 500 CEOs which its believes are the 100 most overpaid […]
Read MoreActivist investors in the US were watching the outcome of shareholder resolutions at the annual general meeting (AGM) of technology giant, Apple, on Friday (26th February). One of the proposals was seeking greater powers for investors to be able to nominate their own directors and this to be voted on by shareholders at their AGMs, so-called […]
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