The AIM Market – heading for trouble in 2019? On the face of it, things do not currently look too rosy for the AIM market. There has just been one new IPO on AIM since the turn of the year. In the same period last year, there were nine. Indeed, last year as a whole…

March 23, 2019 Read more >

Executive pensions – do you know your limits? In the past, pension benefits used to form a substantial proportion of top executives’ total remuneration.  This was not just because their entitlements were based on higher salary levels than employees generally but also because these executives had more generous percentage employer contributions or accrual rates.  Moreover,…

March 22, 2019 Read more >

International Share Incentive Plan – a case study This case study explains how a FTSE 250 company, with MM&K’s help, adapted a UK Share Incentive Plan (SIP) for its employees in Germany and Luxembourg. The Company regards employee ownership as essential to aligning employees and shareholders by creating a common interest in the growth in…

March 20, 2019 Read more >

Holt Private Equity Consultants, MM&K’s allied firm in the US for Private Equity compensation matters, recently published the results of its North American PE Compensation Survey.  This survey is the sister survey of our European PE and VC Compensation Survey.  The results from the North American survey make for interesting reading. The survey analyses compensation…

February 27, 2019 Read more >

Whether you are a well-established organisation or still in early stages, it is important to make sure that the long term elements of your executive and key personnel remuneration are working properly for your business. Whilst establishing whether or not this is the case will take some time and discussion, it is important for anyone…

February 27, 2019 Read more >

Enterprise Management Incentives and Brexit Like any EU member state, the UK is subject to the ‘state aid regime’ regarding competition law, governed by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and associated European legislation. These rules are in place to ensure open and fair competition and to prevent subsidies causing unfair distortions…

February 27, 2019 Read more >

Labour Party policy input on executive remuneration In November 2018, John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor, published a review he had commissioned from a group of 13 academics into the thorny subject of executive pay.  The review is described as “independent” but the intellectual allegiance of the contributors is evident in the title: “Controlling Executive Remuneration: Securing…

February 26, 2019 Read more >

Please click here to read an overview of the evening in which the theme for discussion was: “Could Remuneration Committees take a more active approach to gaining the high ground on executive pay?

February 26, 2019 Read more >

Might EVA be making a comeback? Economic Value Added (EVA) was a popular financial measure in the 1990s, used by many major companies as well as investment analysts.  Interest in EVA has recently re-emerged as a result of the acquisition of EVA Dimensions by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) last year. EVA is defined as: EVA…

February 25, 2019 Read more >

FRC strengthens Stewardship Code The Financial Reporting Council has published a consultation paper on a new Stewardship Code that sets substantially higher expectations for investor stewardship policy and practice.  The proposed changes call for higher transparency regarding institutional investors’ stewardship activities and encourages more engagement with issuers (ie companies).  The FRC and the FCA have…

February 22, 2019 Read more >

Companies’ social purpose Over the last few years we have seen companies come under increasing scrutiny from the public, media and politicians.  In response, we have seen a new Corporate Governance Code, new disclosure regulations and extra requirements for investors.  One theme that has emerged is a new emphasis on companies’ social responsibility.  This trend…

February 20, 2019 Read more >

Update on the changes announced in the Budget to the rules for entrepreneurs’ relief and their impact on employee incentives Introduction In the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor had announced that the definition of ‘personal company’ for the purposes of ‘entrepreneurs’ relief’ for capital gains tax purposes would be tightened so that, with effect from 29…

January 30, 2019 Read more >