Singapore listcos' AGM attendance slid in 2020; hybrid meetings a 'next step': report

SHAREHOLDER attendance for Singapore listcos' meetings (including annual general meetings, extraordinary general meetings and information meetings) in 2020 slid by 70 per cent compared with a year ago, as meetings went virtual on the back of Covid-19 safe-distancing measures.

This could be a due to factors such as retail shareholders being potentially unfamiliar with the digital process, and the absence of live question-and-answer (Q&A) and voting, said meeting-services provider Boardroom in its report on the 2020 AGM (Annual General Meeting) landscape.

Almost half of Singapore's listcos, or 187 companies, engaged Boardroom's services for their meetings between April and June last year.

The majority postponed their meetings that had been scheduled for April to other months, as permitted by regulations to allow sufficient preparation time.

In April 2020, regulators had announced a 60-day extension for all listed and non-listed companies whose AGMs are due to be held between April 16, 2020 and July 31, 2020.

June was the most popular month for meetings, with 81 per cent of postponed meetings taking place then, the report found.

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As companies had to forgo physical meetings in favour of electronic ones, shareholders who attended meetings between April and June 2020 observed the proceedings of the meeting by audio and video.

Compared to 2019's physical meetings, those held virtually between April and June 2020 were, on average, 54 minutes shorter.

This comes as the time taken for shareholders to raise questions to the board was reduced or not required as shareholders had to submit questions by the stipulated deadline ahead of the meetings for companies without live Q&A; there was also no need for poll counting time during the meeting.

Some 72 per cent of meetings were wrapped up in half an hour, but meetings ranged from seven minutes to three hours, said the report.

The most commonly used web-based video-conferencing software was Zoom, with 38 per cent of meetings held on this platform.

More than half the respondents said they will consider holding general meetings through electronic means in future, if there are changes to the regulations to grant flexibility to pick between physical or electronic meetings.

However, Boardroom noted that there were some downsides of holding general meetings virtually, such as the lack of opportunity for shareholders to clarify concerns with the Board or to exchange views, and potential technical issues.

However, the report found that it led to cost savings from not having to rent a physical venue and other logistics arrangements, as well as better time management for the listcos.

In its outlook, Boardroom said that Singapore could see increased adoption of a setup that is a hybrid of physical and virtual meetings in FY2021, as has been observed in neighbouring countries.

"The topic of hybrid/virtual meetings has been a regular talking point for several years but, despite the technology being readily available, we are yet to see wide-scale use in the Singaporean market," it said in the report.

But with the Covid-19 pandemic, most companies had to take that first leap towards a virtual broadcast of their general meetings. With first-hand experience, the next step towards a hybrid model in 2021 should be a more palatable move, the report added.