Imperial Brands kicks off year of unrest over executive pay January 16, 2017 Imperial Brands is in danger of sparking a shareholder rebellion over plans to award its CEO as much as £8.5m a year. The Bristol-based tobacco company proposes to bump CEO Alison Cooper’s pay packet by up to £3m more than she received last year, if she meets targets. Shareholders will have the chance to vote [...]
Watch your step: Shareholder activism is on the rise and UK companies are among the most vulnerable February 15, 2017 UK companies beware: activist investors may be coming for you. New global research out today has identified the UK as one of the most at-risk countries for shareholder activism. Outside of the US, the dominant market for activism, an FTI Consulting activism tracker found 342 global campaigns last year, compared with 70 in 2010. Read [...]
Pension funds question investor acceptance of remuneration committees January 18, 2017 Investors are being urged to up their game in the debate over executive pay by taking a tougher stance on the committees that sign-off remuneration policy. The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), which represents over 1,300 pension schemes and representing £1 trillion in assets, today revealed new guidelines on corporate governance policy. Read more: Aberdeen calls for [...]
Last Week in the City: England has an 8.5% chance of winning the World Cup May 18, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (14 to 18 May 2018). UBS has used its City analysts’ predictive firepower to try and work out the winner of the upcoming World Cup in Russia – and England came surprisingly high in its league [...]
UK’s pension lifeboat gets lower in the water as deficits soar in December January 10, 2017 Pension shortfalls grew at a rate of nearly £1bn a day during December, figures released by the UK's pension lifeboat have revealed. The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), into which defined benefit pension schemes fall upon corporate insolvency, calculated an aggregate deficit for the 5,794 schemes covered of £224bn at the end of December. The shortfall grew [...]
Companies need to tell us the real numbers when it comes to pension deficits, say experts October 31, 2016 Some of Britain's high profile corporate failures could have been avoided if details of their pension scheme deficits had been made clearer according to experts. In a wide-ranging review of the FTSE 350, covenant experts, Lincoln Pensions, called for a greater level of transparency in company’s annual reports. "We believe that many of the issues [...]
FTSE 350: UK dividend payments to fall in 2016 as basic resources companies struggle January 13, 2016 UK dividend payments are set to fall this year due to slower global economic growth, plunging commodity prices and increasingly debt-laden companies. FTSE 350 company dividend payouts will fall three per cent to £81.1bn this year, according to a report by financial services information provider Markit. At the same time, ordinary payments by FTSE 350 companies are [...]
Sir Philip Hampton to lead fresh City diversity review to get more female executives into FTSE 350 companies February 7, 2016 Sir Philip Hampton, the chair of GSK and formerly of RBS and Sainsbury's, has been named as the new chair of an independent group charged with leading a review of gender diversity on company boards. Hampton will lead a review which follows on from Lord Davies' report which set a goal for 25 per cent female [...]
Copper prices are eyeing up their biggest weekly rally in 35 years following Donald Trump’s pledge to boost infrastructure spending November 11, 2016 Copper prices are eyeing their biggest weekly rally in 35 years today following US president-elect Donald Trump's commitment earlier this week to boost infrastructure spending. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading up 3.5 per cent to $5,601 per tonne, a level it hasn't reached since mid-2015, and up more than $700 since [...]
Britain’s companies need to find new ways to incentivise staff so bottom lines are not impacted November 14, 2016 Britain's companies will need to find more creative ways of incentivising staff to mitigate pressure on bottom lines as they start to feel the pinch of increasing inflation over the coming months. FTSE 350 companies have already pencilled in two per cent wage increases for 2016 according to a survey by PwC. Read more: Openness [...]