Twenty seven companies from Ibex-35 already account for less than 15 members of the Board of Directors and twenty six have been nominated as coordinating directors, as recorded by the 11th Report on the General Assembly of Ibex Company Shareholders, presented this morning and elaborated by the Forum of Good Governance and Shareholders, led by Atrevia and IESE Business School.
The Madrid Press Association has welcomed the presentation of this study whose objective is to analyze the aspects related to communication and in relation to the small shareholders of the Ibex-35 companies and its evolution.
The report states that more than half of companies, 57.15% have less than 50% of independent directors that continues to be the highest figure despite a slight break that was seen in 2015.
Therefore, the strength of large Ibex-35 companies to improve its politics and practices in relation to corporate governance has been valued, combined with the increase in foreign representation and the continuity of growth in the number of female advisers which moved from 79 to 88.
The 11th Report on the General Assembly of Ibex-35 Company Shareholders was presented today by Núria Vilanova, co-president of the Forum for Good Governance and Shareholders and president of Atrevia, and Jose Ramón Pin, co-president of the Forum of Good Governance and Shareholders and lecturer at IESE Business School. The event was also attended with the participation of Francisco Javier Zapata, president of Emisores Españoles and Íñigo de Barron, president of the Association of Journalists for Economic Information (APIE).
Stability in the quorum
The average quorum in the General Assembly of Shareholders remains stable, although the small variation in 2015 broke with the upward tendency of two years previously, being 67.05% compared to 67.53% in 2014. The Assembly with most attendance was that of Inditex (86.45%), followed by Endesa (84.79%) and Mediaset (83.45%).
In extreme opposition, Jazztel had the least amount of participation (37.63%), BME (45.02%) and Sacyr (54.55%) holds the second and third positions respectively. Nevertheless, it highlights that fifteen companies have increased the participation of their shareholders.
Less than half of companies (15) require a minimum amount of shares to allow participation to the Assembly, a figure that did not fluctuate last year.
Board of Directors
- United Code of Good Governance and Norms. With the vigorous entrance of the Law of Capital Societies and the update of the Unified Code of Good Governance, companies have positively implemented the measures that allow them to comply with recommendations and norms. From this point of view, the numbers of companies with coordinating directors have increased from 17 in 2014 to 26 in 2015. This implies that almost 75% of the Ibex-35 companies hold this figure, recommended in some companies where the position of president and CEO is held by the same person.
Likewise, there maintains a tendency to reduce the average amount of directors. The report concludes that 77.14% of Ibex companies (27 out of 35) have 15 or less directors, maintaining the stability with small variations in respect to 2014. The average amount of directors has shown a small break with 13.37 members in 2014 to 13.34 in 2015. However, the total figure of Ibex-35 directors has been reduced by only one member, going from 468 to 467.
Referring to the limitation of the mandate of directors, more than half of the companies (19) have already complied with this obligation.
- The independent directors is the only typology that has come down, from 226 in 2014 to 221 in 2015 (declining by 2.21%) representing 32% of the total. Nonetheless, they continue to be more numerous. Almost 60% of companies have a director where independent representation covers over half of its members.
- Foreign representation. In line with the international strategy of many companies, the number of foreign directors has increased significantly, composing of 19.06% of the total (89 directors) in 2015 which is an upturn after two years of a break.
- Parity. The presence of women on the Ibex-35 board of directors continues to rise with an increase of 11.38% in 2015, going from 79 to 88 directors. Since 2008, the number of women in these companies had not stopped growing, although it is still far from equality.
Digital communication
The number of companies that are using social networks to spread the message of the General Assembly of Shareholders has increased notably; with Twitter being the most used network (35.48%). Also, 25 companies offer the option to follow the Assembly via streaming, of which 20 have posted the video on the web then.
Click on this link to download the conclusions of the study https://www.wetransfer.com/downloads/82532a0016dad27943646a6fe0d0c83820160204172515/d97d77