Shareholder engagement on pay can work!

Today’s announcement by Cairn Energy that it will withdraw resolution 2 at its General Meeting next week, demonstrates that shareholders can act on egregious pay awards when they really want to.

Cairn had proposed the award of shares to Sir Bill Gammell with a value of £2.5m (based on …… continue reading >>

Executives on Remuneration Committees of Other Companies - Drilling deeper

Since we published data on the number of executive directors in the FTSE 100 sitting on remuneration committees of other FTSE 100 companies, a common question we received was … what if you look beyond the FTSE 100? So we have re-run the numbers, looking at the FTSE All-Share (i.e. …… continue reading >>

Shareholder Nomination Committees - Just a different form of cronyism?

Last week, in a speech at a High Pay Commission seminar, the shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna and former Business Secretary Lord Myners both put forward arguments in favour of shareholder nomination committees as a way of improving corporate governance. Rather than the current UK model whereby …… continue reading >>

Crony capitalism or mass hysteria?

Journalists and politicians must not have enough to do in the post-Christmas dip. “Action looms to curb executive pay” proclaims the FT on January 5 the day before the UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron devotes precious prime time on Radio 4′s flagship breakfast talk show …… continue reading >>

“Remunerationgate” – the median isn’t the message

Whether it’s a case of “In war, truth is the first casualty” or “Lies, damned lies, and statistics”, sound arguments for reform can easily be undone by the careless use of dodgy data to fit a chosen position.

The debate around reform of executive remuneration …… continue reading >>

Aussie proxy season gets into full swing

Over 140 of the S&P/ASX 200 companies have June year ends and will hold their AGMs between late September and late November. The busiest dates for AGMs are between 24 and 28 October, with 9 & 10 November and 24 & 25 November other busy days in the calendar.

Two-Strikes Rule

A …… continue reading >>

Manifest branches out in Australia

As Manifest continues its increase in global coverage, we are delighted to announce that from October 2011, Manifest has a branch office operating in Melbourne, Australia. We are delighted to be working with Mark Bytheway and the team at the Sustainable Research Institute, SIRIS, to offer Asian investors an Asia-Pacific focussed governance …… continue reading >>

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