ISS Governance QuickScore Data for Europe Now Available to Media

London, UK (Sept. 18, 2014) – Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), a leading provider of proxy advisory and corporate governance solutions to financial market participants globally, today announced the release of its annual European Voting Results Report, which analyzes shareholder meetings that took place between 1 January and 30 June, 2014, at main index companies in 17 key European capital markets. Concurrently, ISS launched its EMEA Data Desk, a new resource for global media focused on corporate governance trends and developments in Europe.

The Voting Results Report, now in its seventh year, shows that the number of resolutions requiring shareholder approval hit an all-time high in 2014, with an average of 14.5 resolutions on the agendas of companies covered in the report.  Notably, 2014 was marked by both the highest number of proposals submitted by shareholders and the highest number of companies having at least one of those shareholder proposals.

Driven by the impact of regulatory changes, board nominations and remuneration proposals now account for more than 40 percent of all resolutions voted on by shareholders, the report finds, and more than 10 percent of resolutions pertaining to share plans, remuneration, and M&A attracted dissent levels in excess of 20 percent.

The growth in board nomination resolutions across Europe dovetails with the region’s sharper focus on board gender diversity.

An analysis of ISS Governance QuickScore data finds steady growth in the percentage of women board members at U.K., Norwegian, Dutch, Italian, and other European-domiciled companies. Of particular note, FTSE 350 companies have seen a nearly six percentage point jump in the number of women directors since 2012, now standing at 18.5 per cent in 2014.  Meanwhile, in France, QuickScore data for the SBF 250 shows that women make-up 26.3 percent of those boards, ahead of the market quota of 20 percent for 2017. The French quota rises to 40 percent by 2017. Norway’s current gender diversity quota of 40 percent has been nearly achieved with women comprising 37.9 per cent of boards of companies in Norway’s OBX Total Return Index. Similarly, the Netherlands current gender diversity target of 30 percent is nearer to being met as the percentage of women serving on boards of companies in the Dutch AEX25 increased to 26.1 per cent this year.

Finally, Italian companies in the Italy FTSE Mid Cap more than doubled their ranks of women on boards from 2012 (at 6.2%) to 2014 (at 14.2%), but there is still some way to the reach 2015 quota of 33%.

For a full list of ISS Governance QuickScore data points available to media via ISS’ new EMEA Data Desk, and for a copy of ISS’ 2014 European Voting Results Report, please contact sarah.ball@issgovernance.com.

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