Deforestation rebellion at P&G

Procter & Gamble (P&G) could be facing a shareholder rebellion over its “lack of progress” on eliminating deforestation in its supply chain, says Investment Week.

Activist investor group Tulipshare has launched a campaign to appoint an Independent Chair to the P&G Board in a bid to address the issue head on.

In 2020, 67% of P&G shareholders supported a proposal which asked the company to evaluate how it can eliminate deforestation and primary forest degradation from its supply chains. However, Tulipshare — who led the campaign for the proposal — is claiming that P&G has made “no progress” since.

Friends of the Earth added fuel to the fire earlier this year at P&G’s AGM, urging shareholders to vote against three board members’ re-election (including the CEO and Board Chair) as a mark of dissatisfaction over the company’s deforestation progress.

Tulipshare claims that Procter & Gamble’s failure to address deforestation is affecting shareholders, with P&G stock diving 22% this year.

Looks like it’s not just trees that are falling.

Constellation shoots for the shares

In a big move for equal voting rights, shareholders of the US beer giant Constellation Brands have approved a plan to eliminate the B class of shares which carry 10 times the votes of ordinary shares, says The Drinks Business. These shares were held by the Sands family, the billionaire brothers who own Constellation Brands and whose father founded the business.

The B class shares effectively gave the Sands family vetoing powers over the company’s direction. Now, however, all shares will have equal voting rights and the Sands’ sway will go from 60% to below 20%. A whopping 75% of shareholders voted in favour of the plan.

It’s hoped that the exit of these “super-voting shares” will up the appeal of Constellation shares among a larger base of investors.

Let’s hope those stars align.

It’s all about clarity: new regs from SEC

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has put new rules in place to ensure the content of fund shareholder reports is clear and concise for their investors, particularly retail ones. Coming into effect on January 24, 2023, the “Final Rules” further the SEC’s ongoing effort to improve transparency of disclosures to shareholders.

A notable change is that funds must produce shareholder reports that are specific to each share class of a single fund. The rules also state that reports should be short (about three or four pages), available online, and should be “concise and visually engaging” by using tables and graphics.

So, basically, the new fund data should be fun data. Sounds good.

Hong Kong goes full throttle on virtual AGMs

Hong Kong is revising its company laws to support fully virtual shareholder meetings, reports Mayer Brown. This has not been the norm until now, in fact regulations have stipulated that those meetings need to be in a physical location and attendees are physically there, too.

But with the increasing numbers of hybrid and virtual meetings happening through COVID, the Hong Kong government has chosen to modernise the law to allow for those two alternative meeting types.

The bill does not, however, address the issues that can arise around virtual meeting technology and how that can impact the meeting’s validity. It’s hoped that guidance on conduct will follow.

Future’s… made of… virtual uncertainty.