RBS shareholders approve executive pay at annual meeting, joining Aviva and BAE Systems in waving through exec pay packages May 4, 2016 Embattled Royal Bank of Scotland has been fighting to defend its management practises and executive pay this afternoon at its annual shareholder meeting (AGM) in Edinburgh. The banks shareholders eventually voted overwhelmingly in favour of the bank's executive pay, with over 99 per cent approving the report. RBS boss Ross McEwan faced a barrage of [...]
At the close: FTSE 100 goes away in May as miners prove the movers May 3, 2016 Traders are superstitious folk, and today – the first day of trading in the month of May – they headed for the hills as the FTSE 100 tumbled to a three-week low. The bluechip index closed down 0.9 per cent on the day at 6,185 in a bad day all round for Europe. The German Dax [...]
A Spring is in the air this May – Shareholder revolt set to build with Aviva and Reckitt Benckiser meetings May 3, 2016 Company bosses are braced for further uprisings this week. Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, insurance giant Aviva, and FTSE 250 hedge fund Man Group all host shareholders for their annual general meetings. Last week the shareholder spring picked up pace as investors voted against boardroom pay rewards for engineering firm Weir Group and Shire, the FTSE [...]
Shareholder voices heard loud & clear April 28, 2016 The shareholder spring picked up pace yesterday, when investors voted against boardroom pay rewards for engineering firm Weir Group and Shire, the FTSE 100 pharmaceutical group. The revolts came on the back of major uprisings at oil giant BP, miner Anglo American, energy firm Centrica and financial behemoth Citigroup. “This year has seen a ‘spring [...]
Live: The spring of shareholder discontent – Weir Group sees renumeration policy struck out, with only 27.6 voting in favour April 28, 2016 It's springtime, but executives may have felt a chill in the air as they headed off to their companies' AGMs this morning. Hermes Investment Management has said that it opposes the appointment of former chief executive Michael Dobson to the role of chairman at Schroders, remarking that such a move would undermine corporate governance. Although the measure [...]
Not so much revolution as boardroom evolution April 28, 2016 We may not be in the throes of a full-on shareholder spring – as happened back in 2012 – but investors are definitely flexing their muscles. They railed against generous executive pay packages at BP and Anglo American (with 59 per cent and 42 per cent rejecting the remuneration deals, respectively), while smaller double-digit rebellions have [...]
City Moves for 21 April 2016 | Who’s switching jobs April 21, 2016 Lincoln International Lincoln International, the global mid-market investment bank, has announced that Tomas Freyman has joined the firm’s London office as a managing director specialising in valuations. Tomas will be part of the firm’s global valuations and opinions group and will work closely with Ron Kahn, who co-heads that group and is based in Chicago. [...]
Sports Direct bags Oxford Street address for high end retailer Flannels April 12, 2016 Times might be tough for Sports Direct at the moment, but that isn't stopping the business splashing the cash – specifically on a shiny new property on Oxford Street. The premises, at 161-167 Oxford Street and 36 Poland Street, has been acquired freehold from CIP Property, a nominee of Aviva Investors for £108m. Sports Direct said [...]
McDonald’s, JD Wetherspoon and Domino’s urged to crackdown on use of antibiotics in global meat and poultry supply chains April 11, 2016 A coalition of 54 institutional investors, which manages funds totalling $1 trillion, has called on 10 UK and US restaurant chains including McDonald’s, JD Wetherspoon, Wendy’s and Domino’s Pizza Group to curb antibiotic use in their global meat and poultry supply chains. The investors, which include Aviva Investors and Coller Capital, have written to ten [...]
Proptech: Aviva backs property tech start-up Opun with £3m funding April 11, 2016 An online property startup that helps homeowners find local contractors to repair their homes has secured £3m of funding from Aviva's new capital venture arm. Opun, which was founded two years ago by entrepreneurs Rod Brown and John Cushing, acts effectively like a broker by putting renters or landlords in touch with craftsmen in their area and [...]