Shareholder support for Ibex 35 boards of directors grows in 2021

On December 16, the Spanish newspaper Europapress, released a review of the Morrow Sodal’s latest edition of Lighthouse EMEA.

Morrow Sodali’s report on the 2021 European AGM Season highlights how corporate governance developed during the proxy season by analyzing three main topics (shareholder participation, board issues, and remuneration items) across eight European markets, and some notable outcomes of the AGMs in the Spanish market.

The overall support of board elections in Spain, remains high in 2021 amongst Ibex-35 issuers. Indeed, in 2021 the average support (95.4%) outperforms the levels of 2020 (94.5%) and 2019 (93.6%). Also, investors’ support varies on the gender of the nominees. In the case of male nominees, average support amounted to 94.7%, while female nominees received an average support of 96.7%.

When it comes to the annual remuneration report, which most Ibex-35 issuers submit as an advisory item with the sole exception of two companies, the average support was 85.2% of votes, while the voting support of the binding approval of the remuneration policy was of 86.8%. In both cases, shareholder opposition is a growing factor that, on average, makes these two items the most controversial at Ibex-35 shareholders’ meetings in terms of support.

Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, remote-only meetings have increasingly become the most common form of shareholders’ meeting. While in 2020, 62% of the Ibex-35 issuers organized remote-only meetings, in 2021 the percentage grew to 68%. In general, considering the new legal environment and issuers’ commitment to hold remote-only meetings solely in extraordinary occasions, such amendments were deemed positive by proxy advisors.

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