AGMs Trends of Italian Companies Listed on FTSE MIB

The importance of environmental sustainability is growing in society, pushing the boards of listed companies to commit to non-financial goals, such as the CO2 reduction by 2050. This was one of the main conclusions that Start Magazine, the online magazine dedicated to innovation and growth, drew from Morrow Sodali's Institutional Investor Survey 2021, the annual poll of over 40 institutional investors with $29 trillion in assets under management.

The survey reveals that in the 4th quarter of 2020, the trend of capital inflows in ESG-oriented investments reached a record $1.65 trillion, an increase of almost 29% from the 3rd quarter of 2020. The survey reports that ESG factors are becoming increasingly important to institutional investors in their choice of investments and in the exercise of voting at AGMs.

Andrea Di Segni, Managing Director of Morrow Sodali, highlights a certain "bipolarity" in 2021 AGMs resolutions for FTSE MIB companies, due to the Covid pandemic too.

According to the IIS 2021, the pandemic has had a strong impact on proxy solicitation and shareholder metrics. In the Italian market, the main proxy advisors have made negative recommendations greater than 45% for the remuneration policy and more than 48% for the report on compensation paid.

"In relation to listed companies, we have seen situations that we did not expect", comments Di Segni, recalling that 2021 was a "particular year due to Covid with many negative recommendations of the proxy advisors to the shareholders' meeting resolutions, based on the behavior adopted by the Board during the pandemic."

Read more here (in Italian only).