KUALA LUMPUR – Public-listed companies (PLCs) had, on average, 17% women directors on their boards last year, an increase from the 15% recorded in 2019, said the Minority Shareholders’ Watch Group (MSWG) in its latest corporate governance (CG) assessment.
The assessment excluded companies listed on the LEAP Market, and PN17 and GN3 firms, and used the Asean CG Scorecard. In total, 851 PLCs were assessed in 2020.
Despite the increase in the number of women directors, 220 of the PLCs assessed had no female board representation, said MSWG in the scorecard released today.
It said 370 of the PLCs assessed have at least one female director, and 142 have at least 30% women on their boards.
The report also revealed that the number of PLCs paying dividends declined to 445 last year from 460 in 2019. In comparison, there were 499 dividend-paying PLCs in the 2018 assessment.
“Considering the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic, this figure is expected to drop further in 2021 as PLCs are either badly impacted by the health crisis or are more prudent in profit distribution to shareholders.”
The number of PLCs adopting integrated reporting increased to 33 in 2020 from 22 the previous year.
Integrated reporting is an approach that enhances the way businesses think, plan and report to their stakeholders on how value is created within the organisation.
MSWG said it hopes to see more PLCs adopting such reporting in the future.
In the 2020 assessment, there were 274 PLCs that conducted their annual general meeting virtually due to the pandemic.
The number of PLCs that have established a tenure limit policy for independent directors increased to 80 in 2020 from 52 in 2019, said MSWG.
Notwithstanding the pandemic, which has impacted many local firms, the watch group said it is glad to see continuous improvement in the overall scores of local PLCs.
The average score for all PLCs improved to 79.28 points from 74.84 points on-year.
The average score for the top 100 and bottom 100 of PLCs based on ranking improved to 101.73 points in 2020 from 98.40 points the previous year, and 63.17 points from 58.75 points, respectively.
The top excellence award for CG disclosure went to Petronas Dagangan Bhd, followed by Petronas Chemical Group Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd, Petronas Gas Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. – Bernama, August 14, 2021
