NEW YORK, April 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The ProxyPulse™ report released today shows that environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") matters are gaining the attention of shareholders and public company boards.
"Support for shareholder proposals rose among institutional investors and retail shareholders, alike, to 43% of the shares voted," said Chuck Callan, Broadridge SVP, Regulatory Affairs. "That's a higher level than we've seen in recent years. The proposals spanned a wide range of topics, including board diversity, climate change, political contributions, voting rights, proxy access, and executive pay, among other topics."
Voting results from 1,024 public company annual shareholder meetings held during the "mini proxy season" (July 1 and December 31, 2018) were released today by Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) and the PwC Governance Insights Center, together with insights on the 2019 proxy season. The report can be found at: www.ProxyPulse.com.
Some specifics from this "mini proxy season" include:
- Institutions own 65% of the shares while individuals own 35% of the shares; these percentages remained constant over the prior year period.
- Voting participation (of the shares each segment owns) was 84% for institutions and 29% for individuals.
- On average, support for directors was 89%. Retail shareholders were more supportive on average than institutions. However, 143 directors failed to attain majority support (out of a total of 3,367 that stood for election).
- On average, support for say-on-pay was 83%. 79 say-on-pay proposals failed to garner at least 70% support, a threshold closely watched by some governance professionals.
About ProxyPulse
ProxyPulse is based in part on Broadridge's processing of shares held in street name, which accounts for more than 80 percent of all shares outstanding of U.S. publicly-listed companies. Shareholder voting trends during a proxy season represent a snapshot in time and may not be predictive of full-year results.
ProxyPulse is a collaboration between Broadridge, the leading provider of investor communications solutions and the PwC Governance Insights Center, a group that supports directors and investors with governance knowledge. Visit ProxyPulse.com to access the full report.
About Broadridge
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) a $4 billion global Fintech leader and a part of the S&P 500® Index, is the leading provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions to banks, broker-dealers, asset managers and corporate issuers globally. Broadridge's investor communications, securities processing and managed services solutions help clients reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. With over 50 years of experience, Broadridge's infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 50 percent of public companies and mutual funds globally, and processes on average more than US $5 trillion in fixed income and equity trades per day. Broadridge employs over 10,000 full-time associates in 18 countries.
For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.
About PwC
At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. PwC is a network of firms in 158 countries with more than 236,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory and tax services. Find out more and tell us what matters to you by visiting us at www.pwc.com.
©2019 PwC. This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors. All rights reserved.
Media Contact:
Andrew MacMillan
The Torrenzano Group
1-212-681-1700
[email protected]
Ryan Cangialosi
PwC
1-347-443-2157
[email protected]
SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.
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