The annual shareholders' meeting season is nearing its end
In Germany, the highlights of this year's season surely included the shareholders' meetings of Deutsche Bank and Adidas,though interesting observations could be made at other shareholders' meetings as well.
An outstanding example was the Deutsche Telekom. The 2500 attendees not only got to enjoy a professional performance by the chairman of the board,: but more importantly an open and appropriate communication at eye level. The supervisory board and management board used the same speaker's desk as the shareholders. The communication at eye level was also reflected in the detailed answers provided to the 152 questions submitted during the meeting.
Another excellent example was the Vossloh shareholders' meeting. The company is in the midst of a restructuring phase, which is due in part to mistakes made by the previous management board. Despite that, the chairman of the board recommended the formal approval of the actions of the members of the previous board. The VIP representative was unable to extrapolate the necessary information from the annual report, nor did he find it anywhere in the explanations of the management board to support that. The request to both the supervisory and management boards to justify their recommendation resulted in the removal of the vote of approval from the agenda and the postponement of the vote to a yet to be determined date.
In general, it was noted that annual shareholders' meetings have significantly increased in importance as communications tools for shareholders in 2014; and it's definitely not a one way street. Two developments during this year's season appear especially significant. Corporations are more willing to seek assessments from shareholders' associations, such as VIP, for major decisions prior to their implementation or presentation at the shareholders' meeting. And investors are more critical than in previous years when it comes to approving the actions of members of the board.
Author: Hans-Hermann Mindermann