In addition to a robust summary of shareholder proposal activity, “Trends and Updates from the 2024 Proxy Season” from Freshfields includes a wealth of benchmarking information on board practices as they relate to ongoing and trending investor focus areas, including board oversight structure (see example below), composition, and refreshment, and board and management diversity, as well as relevant regulatory and other developments, no-action letter statistics, major institutional investor and proxy advisor policies on board diversity, director overboarding, and other key topics.
The firm identifies these among the key proxy season takeaways for the period January 1, 2024 – June 14, 2024, and season-over-season trends, among the Russell 3000:
- A record-breaking number of shareholder proposals coupled with continued low shareholder support for E&S proposals and higher season-over-season support for governance proposals
- A significant uptick in no-action requests submitted, together with a rise in the percentage of requests granted and proposals withdrawn by proponents (as a percentage of requests for no-action relief), as detailed here:
- Low shareholder support for an increasing number of conservative, anti-ESG proposals
The report is replete with colorful graphics and other visual features that promote suitability for inclusion in a management or boardroom presentation on these governance trends and other topics.