Marks and Spencer 2016 Annual Report Download - page 51

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OUR BUSINESSOUR PERFORMANCEGOVERNANCE
49
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2016
The annual M&S Governance Event
is hosted by the Chairman, Robert
Swannell, and is attended by our Senior
Independent Director, Committee
Chairmen and senior representative(s)
of our Plan A department. Board
attendees in 2016 will be Vindi Banga
(Senior Independent Director and
Chairman of our Remuneration
Committee), Andy Halford (Chairman
of our Audit Committee), Amanda Mellor
(Group Secretary and Head of Corporate
Governance) and Adam Elman (our Head
of Global Plan A Delivery).
Invitations are sent to our 30 largest
shareholders, plus representatives
from infl uential investor advisory fi rms
and industry governance specialists.
The event is an opportunity to meet
and discuss the wide range of matters
considered by the Board, both
during the year and going forward.
Presentations at the meeting will
focus on the following six areas:
The Board Audit Risk
Remuneration Plan A Q&As
The presentation will be available to view
at marksandspencer.com/thecompany
following the event.
The 2016 AGM will be held at Wembley
Stadium in London on Tuesday 12 July at
11am. The Notice of Meeting sets out the
schedule for the day and the resolutions
to be proposed at the meeting. A copy
of the Notice can be downloaded at
marksandspencer.com/thecompany.
The meeting will be webcast live and
a recording made available on our
website after the event.
The Board and M&S’s senior management
team will be available for shareholders
to speak to before the meeting. Robert
Swannell and the Chairs of our
Committees will be available to answer
shareholders’ questions during the
formal proceedings of the meeting.
The AGM in 2015 was well-attended and
all of the proposed resolutions were
passed, with the percentage of the
Company’s share capital voted in favour
of each ranging from 89.34% to 99.99%.
See Shareholder information on p127-128
GOVERNANCE EVENT
AGM
ROBERT SWANNELL CHAIRMAN
In my introduction on page 30 I touched on
the importance of having a clearly defi ned
Board culture and ensuring that the way in
which the Board operates as a team is fully
integrated with our values. This is equally
important in determining the Board’s
approach to engaging with our investors,
as we believe that staying in touch with
them through regular, open dialogue and
candid debate forms the strong foundation
of this important relationship.
Inevitably, there will be areas in which our
views and those of our investors will
diverge. However, we fi rmly believe that
encouraging points of di erence to be
debated openly is a signifi cant advantage,
helping us to understand the concerns of
our investors while framing the discussion
in the context of our wider business
objectives to ensure we are clear about
what we are trying to achieve.
We believe that our trusted relationship
with our shareholders is enhanced by our
commitment to staying in touch with them
throughout the year and not just at our
AGM. During the year, the business had 431
contacts with 253 separately identifi able
institutions via one-to-one or group
meetings hosted by an executive director
or our Investor Relations team. For my
part, I have had discussions on a variety
of governance matters with numerous
investors, industry representatives and
Chairs of other leading FTSE companies.
Additionally, in June I once again hosted
our annual Governance Event, details of
which are provided on the right.
We also stay in touch with the views and
opinions of our private investors by
engaging with a number of leading client
brokers who typically represent our private
shareholder base. Our Investor Relations
team receive independent guidance from
capital markets advisory fi rm Makinson
Cowell, which undertakes an annual audit
of our major investors’ views on the
Company’s management and performance.
The results of its audit are presented to the
Board each year.
AMANDA MELLOR GROUP SECRETARY
In addition to remaining in touch with our
investors, we also believe in utilising M&S’s
unique heritage and long history to engage
beyond this ‘traditional’ stakeholder group.
In last year’s Annual Report I highlighted
the innovative contributions towards this
from our acclaimed Company Archive in
Leeds, which I am pleased to say continued
its record of consistent excellence over
the course of the year.
During 2015 the archive continued to
improve the accessibility of its collection
through digitisation, adding a further 2,600
archives to its online catalogue. As a result,
the number of students, academics and
members of the public using the collection
for research purposes has increased by 61%.
The archive also broadened its award
winning education programme, partnering
with the Prince’s Trust to introduce
workshops to support children who have
been or are at risk of exclusion from school.
Alongside this direct work with schools,
the archive also expanded its successful
Heritage Ambassador Scheme to the South
London region in 2015. To date, these
Ambassadors have helped M&S stores to
connect with local schools by delivering
25 workshops focussing on the history of
M&S, Plan A and the environment to over
650 school children.
The archive has also excelled in developing
initiatives that draw from M&S’s heritage
to engage with communities on important
issues such as dementia support. It has
introduced reminiscence sessions for
groups visiting from care homes and day
centres, and in 2016 launched its own
monthly Memory Café in conjunction
with the Alzheimer’s Society. Additionally,
the archive o ers a range of digital
reminiscence resources for people living
with dementia, their families and carers,
utilising images and samples of products
from decades past to encourage social
interaction through the sharing of
experiences. Over 900 people to date have
been engaged through these reminiscence
sessions and digital resources, more
information about which is available at
marksintime.marksandpencer.com.
The work undertaken by the archive is
underpinned by our close partnership
with the University of Leeds, to which I am
proud to make my own contribution by
promoting the importance of ethical
leadership as a Visiting Professor of the
University’s Ethics Centre.
ENGAGEMENT
STAKEHOLDER
ENGAGEMENT