This is an unusual book. I struggle to place it politically, since it both strongly advocates both reasserting the voice of the working class in politics and society, alongside quite conservative positions on issues like immigration. According to Wikip…Read more…
Capitalism: down with the sickness
I’m just a humble labour & corpgov wonk, so most of the time the kinds of things that interest me are buried in the business pages. But it feels like, as with the financial crisis, questions about who controls businesses and how, and in whose inter…Read more…
NMC voting turnout
Right… here’s what we can see in the NMC meeting results. The first graph just sets out what NMC reports. So there is a headline total voting turnout for all meeting and at AGMs from 2015 I can also split out the insider and minority shareholder turn…Read more…
More NMC stuff
A quick look at disclosures for one of NMC’s largest shareholders, Wellington. Last Friday there was an RNS that announced that it held a bit over 10m shares, but in a note said it didn’t have voting discretion for 1.35m of them (13.5%).
Then on Mond…Read more…
NMC Health voting rights
I spent a bit of Sunday trawling through NMC annual reports and RNS announcements. If you look at the disclosed shareholders in the annual reports you can figure out the holdings of the controlling shareholders. If you then look at the AGM results you …Read more…
TR1 tales at NMC
A few more funky bits and pieces in the entrails of NMC Health’s filings…
A couple of banks facilitating stuff for clients presumably. In the Morgan Stanley case it’s an equity swap. Quite interested in who would want an NMC equity swap at this poin…Read more…
FTSE100 corporate governance failure
UPDATED: Very useful info from Chris Hodge added – the ownership disclosure requirements are weaker for non-UK issuers.
It’s not surprising, given the market turmoil, that the crisis at NMC Health has attracted less attention than it would norma…Read more…
Workers on boards – sharp edges
Just a quickie on one of my favour topics – worker representation in corporate governance. First up a bit of politics: Once again the main opposition parties (including the SNP) went into the election advocating an extension of worker representation on…Read more…
Turnout tales
If recent events tell us anything, it’s that voting matters… With that in mind this is a quick post on something that caught my eye this year: sharp changes in voting turnout at a number of companies. Some of the more striking examples have been at c…Read more…
Workers on boards: high-risk inaction
Over the past few weeks there has been quite a lot of interest in the extent to which UK companies are giving employees a say in corporate governance. As most people will know, the revised UK Corporate Governance Code that came into force this year enc…Read more…
Changing of the guard in corporate governance
I have been blogging a lot recently about employee representation on boards. This is partly because I’m an advocate of it, partly because no-one else seems to be tracking the issue properly and partly because I think the issue is part of a significant …Read more…
Ted Baker chief exec departure and workers on boards
I’m still tracking company announcements on if/how they are complying with the UK Corp Gov Code in respect of employee voice.
I’ve found two more choosing to designate an existing NED as employee representative. The first is the recruiter Hays, announ…Read more…
Stakeholder governance… in banks
Hat-tip to Responsible Investor for a fascinating news story about Dutch bank De Volksbank considering giving stakeholders such as employees and customers a vote at their AGM alongside shareholders. This is framed in terms of shift away from shareholde…Read more…
Asset managers and worker directors
The more I’ve been digging around for info on workers on boards, the more interesting things I find. For example, I had heard a rumour a while back that ATOS was thinking about appointing a UK employee director. And it turns out that they did. In fact …Read more…
Workers on boards round-up 2
As I’ve blogged quite a lot recently, I think the ground is shifting with regards to the UK corporate governance model. Specifically, the issue of employee and other stakeholder representation is being debated increasingly frequently.
Although there i…Read more…
Capita recruits employee directors
Just a “workers on boards” nugget, but Capita has announced it is seeking to recruit two employee directors. You can read the press blurb here or the story in the Times here.
When I dug around a bit I discovered that this had actually been announ…Read more…
What comes next?
I think that the outlines of a future corporate governance model for the UK are increasingly clear. Whilst I’m a long-term, strong proponent of such a change, I think the range of voices in favour is a good indication that it is likely. In very broad t…Read more…
Workers on boards round-up
Just a quick round-up of some news that relates to the issue of worker representation on boards. I think the fact that there is quite a bit is indicative of the shift in thinking that is going on.
1. This is old, but I had totally missed it. Mears Gro…Read more…
Legal & General vs workers on boards
A little bit of news about workers on boards (or the lack of them) in the UK. Legal & General is the first big PLC that I have seen set out how it will address workforce engagement.
Perhaps no big surprise, but they have adopted the nominated NED …Read more…
Shareholder primacy and utilities
A theme I think anyone with an interest in corporate governance should keep an eye on is the way that the interests of investors in a firm in relation to others are portrayed in financial media and elsewhere.
Under the 1990s model it was common to see…Read more…