UK: the Punch Taverns plc AGM - shareholders reject remuneration report

Punch Taverns plc held its annual general meeting earlier this week. The voting results are available here. Resolution 3 - to approve the company's remuneration report - was not passed: 55.44% of votes were cast against. The company's board responded by issuing a statement in which it explained that a "full review of remuneration policy and its future implementation" would be conducted in consultation with shareholders. Perhaps the shareholders should have been consulted earlier, not least because at the company's last annual general meeting, in January of this year, disquiet over remuneration was evident: approximately one third of votes were cast against the remuneration report. 

Australia: Productivity Commission report on executive remuneration released

The Productivity Commission report on executive remuneration was released today: see here (pdf - 2.6MB). The report rejects the introduction of a cap on executive pay and a binding shareholder vote on remuneration. Instead it contains 17 recommendations designed to strengthen the corporate governance framework, including: 

• All ASX300 companies should have a remuneration committee, comprising solely of non-executive directors (the majority of whom should be independent).
• The remuneration report should contain a summary statement, in plain English, of the company's remuneration policies.
• Proxy holders should be required, except in exceptional circumstances, to cast all of their directed proxies on remuneration reports and any resolutions related to those reports.
• Institutional investors, particularly superannuation funds, should disclose, at least on an annual basis, how they have voted on remuneration reports and other remuneration-related issues.
• Where a company’s remuneration report receives a ‘no’ vote of 25 per cent or more of eligible votes cast at an AGM, the board should be required to explain in its subsequent report how shareholder concerns were addressed and, if they have not been, the reasons why; where the subsequent remuneration report receives a 'no' vote of 25 per cent or more of eligible votes cast at the next AGM, a resolution should be put that the elected directors who signed the directors’ report for that meeting stand for re-election at an extraordinary general meeting.

For further information see: media release| overview (including key points) | recommendations and findings | Productivity Commission remuneration enquiry site | submissions | public hearing transcripts | Government response to the report |