"UK stocks on the wane, Investor Forum warns"27 Jan 2023 01:26
Times article - surprising THG mention at the end:
"British companies are no longer “must-own” assets, some of the world’s biggest institutional investors have warned.
A group of investors speaking for £26 trillion of assets worldwide, including £680 billion of UK-listed shares, have highlighted the “diminishing importance” of British firms.
In a partial riposte to a group of FTSE 100 chairmen who officially complained last year about the box-ticking nature of investors’ governance processes, the Investor Forum said bosses needed to recognise that international investors had no need of them.
“The declining relevance of UK equity markets over the last 25 years has been breathtaking,” Andy Griffiths, the forum’s executive director, said. Highlighting frustrations such as Brexit and the mini-budget last September, he said: “A recognition of the UK’s diminished importance as an investment destination and the economy’s dependence on international investment is essential if reforms are to yield benefits ... Money moves globally, competition is intense and the UK is no longer regarded as a ‘must-own’ market.”
The forum’s members include some of the biggest investment groups in the world, such as BlackRock, Allianz and Fidelity, as well Schroders, Aviva and other large domestic houses.
While offering a partial olive branch by saying that investors should engage more with companies and resort less often to veto votes, the forum also suggested that investors were not about to abandon concerns about excessive senior management pay packets, a “particularly acute” issue “given the current cost of living crisis”.
In an unofficial report last year, the chairmen of dozens of Britain’s biggest listed companies accused shareholders of meddling in detail, not understanding the businesses they invested in, declining to engage meaningfully and secretly teaming up with activists “by the back door”.
The forum also said it had engaged with five companies in the course of the year, Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline and THG among them, to try to broker peace between unhappy shareholders and boards."
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