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
amacmillan@torrenzano.com
Ryan Cangialosi
PwC
1-347-443-2157
Ryan.A.Cangialosi@pwc.com
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SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.