Ryanair’s latest results are out today. Aside from the update on negotiations on unions, which I won’t comment on…, the bit that caught my eye is the commentary on Brexit and the potential knock-on impact on Ryanair’s shareholders:
We remain concerne…Read more…
Exec pay, again
Two bits in the FT caught my eye recently, and I think both are indicative of why executive pay will continue to cause fuel the public’s belief that corporate boards are making out like bandits and there needs to radical action to tackle it.
First is …Read more…
Persimmon result tells a lot about shareholders and executive pay
As you may have noted, there was a rather large vote against Persimmon’s remuneration report earlier in the week. This was in response to a £75m award to the chief executive, reduced from the original £110m.
First things first – the pay award was the …Read more…
ISS and US pension funds vote against ICTSI directors
Proxy advisors and shareholders endorse voting against non-independent ICTSI Directors in line with ITF recommendationsGlobal proxy advisors and shareholders have recommended voting against the re-election of non-independent Directors of Filipino port …Read more…
ITF recommends shareholders vote against ICTSI directors
ITF recommends shareholders vote against ICTSI directorsThe International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) today released a shareholder advisory note detailing governance issues at International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI). 15/03/2…Read more…
ASOS AGM action!
This week saw some great campaigning by the GMB as part of their ongoing battle against poor working practices within ASOS, which has had a particular focus on the distribution centre in Barnsley run by XPO. The GMB had a “Catwalk of Shame” outside, an…Read more…
Ladbrokes: at it again
Last week Ladbrokes saw a 42% vote against its rem report. This was in response to a termination payment, and the company in turn issued a very solemn statement as part of its AGM results acknowledging the vote.
The Board notes the vote in respect of t…Read more…
TUC Fund Manager Voting Survey 2015
The TUC’s annual voting survey – its 12th! – is out today. Two things I would flag up – the votes on the shareholder resolution at National Express (a rare case of a res explicitly on labour issues) and the votes on the bonus cap at the banks. Both ind…Read more…
Afren’s remuneration: a long-term problem
A few years back, when I was blogging more regularly, Afren was one of the companies I always used to keep an eye on. This was because it clearly had some governance challenges, not least in respect of directors’ pay.
As far as I am aware it remains t…Read more…
Why hasn’t Caledonia Investments disclosed its Tory donations?
A couple of weeks back I blogged that Caledonia Investments had made two separate donations of £2000 to the Conservative Party – received in December 2014 and mid March 2015.
To be crystal clear, according to the Electoral Commission the first donation was received on 12 December 2014, the second…Read more…
Caledonia Investments Tory cash drop 2
I’ve blogged previously about Caledonia Investments continuing to give the company’s money to the Conservative Party, this time without shareholder approval. I’ve just spotted that actually they have done it twice in the past few months, first in Eastl…Read more…
Asset manager oversight of exec pay
There’s a very telling quote early on in this piece by Jill Treanor on Fidelity’s views on exec pay.
“If you approach executive pay from the point of quantum, you are setting yourself up to fail,” he said.I think this encapsulates why there will continue to be controversy around exec pay. A lot of…Read more…
Where is labour in ESG?
About six months ago I blogged about a PRI report on policy, and the limited mentions of labour issues compared to governance and environmental issues. My belief was and is that the RI community pays significantly less attention to labour issues than o…Read more…
Company responses to high shareholder votes against exec pay
As I’ve blogged previously, the new version of the UK Corporate Governance Code requires companies to make a statement in response to large votes against them. This was introduced due to concerns that companies were treating near misses on exec pay vot…Read more…
A quarter of National Express shareholders revolt over labour rights
One of the things some people won’t have noticed in the aftermath of the election is a very significant shareholder revolt at National Express over labour rights at its AGM last week.
A group of shareholders including LAPFF members had filed a resolut…Read more…
Canadian Key Proxy Vote Survey
A quick plug for the annual proxy vote survey undertaken by SHARE plus the Columbia Institute and Fonds de Solidarite FTQ. This is one of several survey undertaken by labour-oriented groups worldwide to assist trustees in holding asset managers a…Read more…
Why exec pay oversight can be weak
Because I’m a geeky person, I often search Investegate for AGM results. I just found this RNS announcement from Diploma PLC from Wednesday –
All of the resolutions put to shareholders at the Annual General Meeting were passed by poll votes and the resu…Read more…
When unions meet capital markets…
Anyone interested in the capacity for trade unions to mobilise the capital sitting in our pension funds should take a look at the Global Proxy Review produced by the Committee on Workers’ Capital. The Review is intended as a tool for trade union truste…Read more…
Pooled funds, voting and fiduciary duty
As some people will be aware, there is a considerable degree of frustration amongst some asset owners in the UK that they are unable to vote how they want when investing through pooled funds. There isn’t any technical reason why this can’t happen, some…Read more…