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Fat Cats on Diet?

There was a good article in the Daily Telegraph this morning in which I was quoted. It was headlined "Will the fat cats finally be put on a diet by shareholders?" and gave an overview of the attempts to rein in executive remuneration and the likely impact this year. But I expressed scepticism to the reporter and this is what it printed: "Roger Lawson, deputy chairman of ShareSoc, which speaks on behalf of thousands of retail investors in the UK, argues that an ...

Persimmon AGM Voting Recommendations

ShareSoc has issued the following press release: ShareSoc is opposed to the Remuneration Policy of Persimmon Plc. We therefore recommend VOTING AGAINST the Persimmon AGM resolutions as follows: Remuneration Policy (Resolution No. 2), Remuneration Report (No. 3), Remuneration Committee Chair Jonathan Davie (No. 8) and the 2017 Performance Share Plan (No. 14). How can the Remuneration Report almost completely ignore the existing LTIP awards? There is no mention of the £100 million share scheme for Persimmon CEO Fairburn in the new remuneration policy, ...

Crest Nicholson Lose Pay Vote

Builder Crest Nicholson (CRST) lost the Remuneration Report vote at their AGM yesterday with 58% opposed (107 million votes against plus another 5 million withheld on a 74% turnout). This may be the first of a number in this year's AGM season. However they won the Remuneration Policy vote. The company expressed their disappointment on the advisory vote on the Remuneration Report and suggested it was profit before tax target for the 2017-19 LTIP. They reduced the target because they do not ...

Pay Revolts and Rolls-Royce Voting Recommendations

According to a number of press reports we seem to be heading into the AGM season with another year of pay revolts. There are also rumours that Mrs May is to proceed with introducing annual pay votes. Chris Cummings, CEO of the Investment Association, writing for the Guardian said "Too many people still feel they are not sharing this country's prosperity. Companies can either act responsibly now and shape a more responsible 21st-century corporate Britain or they can carry on as before ...

Fundsmith Annual Shareholders’ Meeting – An ODD investment strategy

The Annual Shareholder Meeting for holders of the Fundsmith Equity Fund was held last night (20/3/2017). Here’s a brief summary of manager Terry Smith’s presentation and the question/answer session...