More companies offering live Q&A at AGMs, but many still reluctant to fully embrace tech features

AS THE Covid-19 pandemic persists, the need to keep shareholder meetings virtual remains. Yet, while Singapore-listed companies can be said to be doing a better job this year in trying to create more meaningful engagements with their shareholders, the seeming lack of enthusiasm with which many have been approaching this suggests that a significant number of retail investors could be left at a disadvantage yet again.

In 2020, a total of 630 listed companies held at least one meeting - but only six held virtual meetings with a live question-and-answer (Q&A) session and, of these, only one held a meeting with a live Q&A and live voting.

"The meetings of the other 581 companies were almost exclusively conducted using webcasts, which did not allow for interactions at the meetings. Social distancing became investor distancing at shareholder meetings," said Mak Yuen Teen, an associate professor of accounting at the NUS Business School, who authored The Singapore Report on Shareholder Meetings: The Rise of Virtual Meetings.