May 4 is peak annual meeting day in Canada, ISS Analytics (ISSA), the data and analytics arm of proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. announced on Thursday.
May is the busiest month for annual meetings in Canada this year, ISSA reports, with 150 members of the S&P/TSX composite index, including 34 of the TSX 60 companies, holding their annual meetings during the month. Among S&P/TSX Composite firms, peak meeting day is May 4, with 29 firms (including nine constituents of the TSX 60) holding their annual meetings.
Looking at the full universe of Canadian firms tracked by ISSA, not just firms that are part of the index, the busiest meeting date this year will be May 11. On that date, 26 members of the S&P/TSX composite index will be holding their annual meetings, along with 34 smaller firms.
In the United States, the peak date for annual meetings this year is May 18, ISSA reports. On that day, 126 members of the Russell 3000 Index will be holding their annual shareholders meetings.
“Early U.S. season trends include an increased focus on ensuring governance structures at newly-IPO companies are in line with shareholders’ interests, ballot items on ‘say-on-pay’ frequency reaffirming shareholders’ focus on having annual votes on this issue, and early season traction on some environmental and social proposals,” says John Roe, head of ISSA, in a statement.
“So far in 2017, we have seen say-on-pay resolutions fail to pass at two Canadian companies compared with three in the U.S. across a much broader universe of companies,” adds Roe.