The new Corona will change the shareholders' meeting. Shareholders will also emphasize employment. June 25, 20:29.
The general meeting of shareholders has changed due to the impact of the new coronavirus, but the attitude of shareholders in pursuit of profits has also changed due to the spread of infection.
Many shareholders, such as investment funds that manage huge amounts of money, stubbornly demanded measures such as increased dividends and share buybacks at stockholders' meetings that would lead to higher stock prices.
However, it is recognized as a global issue to deal with environmental problems such as global warming and plastic garbage, and companies that neglect to deal with such issues are not supported by society and their earning power declines in the future. The idea of going has spread among shareholders.
Black Rock, the world's largest asset management company, also announced that it will not invest aggressively in companies with high sales of coal-related businesses that emit a large amount of carbon dioxide. We are strengthening our attitude to attach importance to.
Faced with the global spread of the new coronavirus, investors are also focusing on measures against infectious diseases.
The international network made up of the world's leading institutional investors made an urgent statement this April: "For corporate managers."
With the spread of the infection becoming more serious, management has sought to give priority to protecting the "health" and "employment" of employees rather than securing dividends to shareholders.
Investment policy of a major asset management company
Fidelity Investment Trust is a leading asset management company with investments in companies in 25 countries.
We also participate in an international network of institutional investors.
On the 25th, a staff member in charge of dialogue with investee companies held an online meeting at a Japanese base in Tokyo to discuss future investment policies.
Since the company is entrusted with the management of pension funds, etc., the principle is to require the company to pay sufficient dividends.
However, at the same time, we are focusing on investment = ESG investment in companies that are positively addressing social issues such as environmental issues.
As it is feared that the effects of the new coronavirus will last for a long time, it is also a social issue to protect employment, and we will check the way of thinking about employment in dialogue with companies.
Yuki Sanbe, who is in charge of dialogues with investee companies, said, "I do not hear about how much profit will decrease or when business performance will recover. Rather, I will ask how to protect employees I have decided to do so."
In addition, he said, "Because it is a difficult environment, it is better to increase transparency and to secure sufficient "interactivity" in discussions between companies and shareholders, and I think that the approval rating and management support for that company will increase."