The Investment Association has flagged-up 120 FTSE All-Share companies for experiencing significant shareholder dissent over issues including director re-election and executive pay during the latest annual general meeting (AGM) season.
During the shareholder voting period from 1 January until the end of July, the industry body added 20 FTSE 100, 44 FTSE 250 and 56 FTSE small cap firms to its public register, which tracks companies experiencing shareholder dissent of more than 20%.
This compares with 110 firms added over the same period in 2017.
Resolutions up
The number of resolutions on the register also increased to 237, a 25% jump from 190 for the same period in 2017.
A key gripe among shareholders this year was individual director re-election, with the total number of resolutions more than doubling from 38 in 2017 to 80 this year. This was particularly obvious in the FTSE 250 where resolutions jumped from 18 in 2017 to 37 this year.
Chris Cummings, chief executive of the Investment Association, said shareholders “have shown their teeth” over FTSE 250 director re-election.
“They are using their votes to hold individual directors to account for decisions they made on issues such as executive pay and board diversity, as well as concerns that individual directors do not have the bandwidth to fulfill their roles as they spread themselves too thinly on too many boards.”
Executive pay issues subside overall
Rebellions were also seen over executive pay at FTSE 100 firms with 18 pay resolutions attracting more than 20% shareholder dissent, double the nine seen in 2017.
However, executive pay declined overall as an issue with resolutions over pay among FTSE All-Share companies dropping to 61 in 2018 from 68 in 2017.
Business minister Kelly Tolhurst said: “Shareholder revolts on pay fell this year but it is right that shareholders are able to send a strong signal when they aren’t satisfied that executive pay is in line with performance.”
