Index May 2004
Comment
Small shareholders learn activism lessons
Richard Northedge
Small shareholders have watched and learnt. If this investor activism
thing is so good, why should City institutions monopolise it? Why shouldn’t
the private investor join in? More >>
New EU members come prepared
Paul Hewitt, Manifest's European business development
manager
Paul considers the impact of the recent European Union
expansion on its corporate governance developments. More >>
Governance
Trades Union Congress
Investors should flex their muscles more
Institutional investors and companies agreed to continue their dialogue
following a dinner held by the
Investment Management Association (IMA) and the
Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
More >>
Shell
Concerns about governance remain
Royal
Dutch/Shell shrugged off its recent problems concerning the
overbooking of reserves by announcing a $2bn share buyback programme this
year which it says it can do because of stronger oil and gas prices.
More >>
OECD
Governments approve governance principles
The revised Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Principles of Corporate Governance have been
approved by the governments of its 30 member countries.
More >>
Corus
Major shareholder signals concerns
Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer,
Corus, faced the prospect of the
nomination of a director to act as representative of one of its major
shareholders, Gallagher Holdings at its AGM last month.
More >>
Mayflower
Shareholders must write off investment
Shareholders in Mayflower Corporation will not see any
return on their investment because of the high level of debt according to
its administrators from Deloitte & Touche.
More >>
Eurotunnel
Power of private shareholders highlighted
The new management of
Eurotunnel met with the Nicolas Sarkozy,
the French minister for economy, finance and industry, recently to talk
about its plans for the struggling channel tunnel operator.
More >>
Aventis/Sanofi-Synthélabo
Improved terms agreed
Pharmaceuticals company
Aventis has accepted a new offer from
Sanofi-Synthélabo
– which it says is a substantial improvement on an initial offer which it
had strongly resisted. More >>
Skandia
Old board still liable for past pay schemes
Shareholders at the AGM of Swedish savings group
Skandia refused to
discharge from responsibility the old board which served between 1 January and 15 April 2003,
following a proposal by the
Swedish Shareholders Association (SSA) supported
by the 10 largest owners, including major Swedish banks. More >>
IRS
Total remuneration disclosure is poor
A survey of the latest annual reports of the UK’s 10
biggest companies – excluding Shell because of the delay to its results –
has found that total remuneration ranged from £2m to £11m and the average
increase in remuneration was 24% although the range was plus 110% to minus
32%. More >>
CII/NACD
Recommendations for better communication
Concerns in the US that shareholders are not truly
represented in the boardrooms of companies they own has led to a report by a
joint task force of the Council of
Institutional investors and the National
Association of Corporate Directors giving best practice recommendations
for better communication between the two parties.
More >>
News Corporation
Primary listing to move to the US
Concerns in the US that shareholders are not truly
represented in the boardrooms of companies they own has led to a report by a
joint task force of the Council of
Institutional investors and the National
Association of Corporate Directors giving best practice recommendations
for better communication between the two parties.
More >>
Corporate Social Responsibility
Ceres
Study reveals widely varying emissions in US
America’s 100 largest electric power generators produce widely
contrasting emission levels according to a recent
survey released by
Ceres, a US coalition of investor and environmental groups, the
Natural
Resources Defence Council and Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated,
one of the firms in the study. More >>
Governance in brief.....
WH Smith faces bid from
Permira
Struggling books and stationery retailer
WH Smith has received a
preliminary approach from private equity group
Permira for a possible offer for the
group valued at 375 pence per share. More >>
CSR in brief.....
Danish companies win reporting
awards
Two Danish companies won the top awards at the European
Sustainability Reporting Awards co-sponsored by the Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants. More >>
Conferences
Topical governance and CSR-related conferences.
More >>
May, 2004
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