CPG – Compass Company Information and Vote Guidance 2022

This report is by Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. These are my personal views and not necessarily those of ShareSoc. I  own shares in Compass.

ShareSoc  introduced this new added value voting information service, for Full Members only in 2021, providing background information on leading companies and AGM vote guidance. Initially we are piloting this for FTSE30 companies, plus a few others in the FTSE100. We have decided to continue the pilot in 2022 and are looking at ways to improve our services to members.

The share price has done very well over the past  20 years and after a Covid drop, has increased in the past 12 months.

Below are links to the:

1. Stockopedia summary report.

2. Minerva Vote recommendations for the 2nd February 2022 AGM based on their standard template.

3. Minerva detailed research report for the AGM.

Summary of voting issues at this year’s AGM 2 Feb 2022

The Stockopedia data is interesting. Stockopedia rate the share as a high flyer with a Stocko rating of 81.

The Minerva report highlights various issues in particular and recommends voting against several of the resolutions. I would like to see Compass doing more shareholder engagement, including meeting individual shareholders or representatives of individual shareholders. The issues requiring further discussion that Minerva highlight are:

Elect Directors (Vittal): High previous dissent. Significant other commitments.

Political Donations Authority: £100,000 authority.

Share Buybacks: Length of authority exceeds recommended practice.

Remuneration

Policy: High bonus potential. High pension contributions. Mitigation Clauses not disclosed. Potential excessive levels of incentive pay. Significant upward ratchet in total pay.

Report: High bonus potential. High level of LTIP awards during the year. High pension contributions. Potential excessive levels of incentive pay. Significant upward ratchet in total pay.

Readers should make their own voting decisions and DYOR (Do Your Own Research).

Neither I nor ShareSoc can give financial advice and nothing in this blog should be construed as advice.

Further Information

You can access all the information that ShareSoc has written on a company by clicking on the Research and Company Research buttons in the header on any ShareSoc webpage. This will take you to this page https://www.sharesoc.org/company-research/ . If you then enter the company name, eg Compass, Imperial, etc., then all the previous commentary on the ShareSoc website will appear. For some companies this is a veritable treasure trove of useful information.

We are very grateful to Minerva for providing us with access to their reports. Minerva are a leading global corporate governance firm and have kindly supported ShareSoc in this new initiative. Minerva are British and have a unique perspective on corporate governance issues.

We have also included the Stockopedia report for the company and we are very grateful to Stockopedia for giving us permission to republish their reports. Readers are reminded that ShareSoc members can obtain a discount on the Stockopedia Subscription. See https://www.sharesoc.org/members-area/member-special-offers/

Click here for our 2021 report.

There is also a 2017 ShareSoc blog on Compass and Capita, see https://www.sharesoc.org/blog/remuneration/performance-related-pay-work-depends/

In 2020, ShareSoc praised Compass for being one of the first to include a Primary Bid retail offer in a fund raise. see https://www.sharesoc.org/media-mention/ft-26-may-2020-fund-raises-now-include-retail/

FT, 26 May 2020, Fund Raises Now Include Retail

https://www.ft.com/content/edc6c95f-7ab8-42c3-ae50-9811c776221b .

“This is brilliant,” says Cliff Weight, director of ShareSoc, a campaign group for small shareholders. “A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to explain why individual investors should not be shut out of fund raises. “I hope all companies will now follow their example and include individual investors in their fund raises.” 

In a long article on fund raises, it was reported that Compass, the catering company, became the first main market business in the UK to include retail investors in its equity raise since the UK went into lockdown. 

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