Trend observations from 120 general meetings
About 120 general meetings have now been held via Konsento, and around a third of these decisions were passed which were remotely notarized online by a notary. Based on these experiences, we have compiled observations, which we present in a three-part blog series. In doing so, we shed light on trends that influence the success of the public limited company in some cases beyond the general meeting. Each blog is dedicated to a specific topic group and offers valuable insights and tips for planning and holding general meetings.
The first blog in this series is dedicated to the question of how a general meeting affects the image development of a public limited company.
The General Assembly as a stage for image marketing
A well-held general meeting is not only a mandatory event, but also an excellent opportunity for companies to present themselves and maintain or even increase the interest of shareholders. Skilful board members use the Annual General Meeting as a stage for image marketing and branding. In the case of consumer goods, this increases interest in the product and develops the shareholder into a brand ambassador. On the other hand, this can also arouse interest in further acquisitions of the shares. For startups and scaleups, this can have an impact on the success of future financing rounds, and for listed companies, on course maintenance.
High participation as a success factor
In order to find as fertile ground as possible, boards of directors also strive to achieve the highest possible level of participation with an appealing company presentation. Konsento supports them with functions that send reminders at the push of a button to all shareholders who have not yet responded to the invitation and have signed up to participate in the AGM or have authorized the independent voting representative. The Board of Directors can therefore encourage shareholders who have not yet granted a power of attorney to participate in the AGM. Such mobilization of shareholders increases voter turnout and is desirable from a corporate governance perspective. Of course, this function is designed in accordance with the OR regulations and treats the instructions of the individual shareholders confidentially up to the AGM.
Anxiety is a bad advisor
The opposite is also true: Fear is a bad advisor. Boards of directors who hope that as few shareholders as possible will attend the Annual General Meeting usually do not offer as attractive company presentations as those who use the event as a marketing and branding platform. As a result, they squandering the interest of participating shareholders in future general meetings or capital increases. The lack of interest at an electronic general meeting is particularly evident in the number of registered (“logged-in”) users.
Conclusion and outlook
Even too often, the general meeting is perceived by boards of directors as an annoying compulsory event imposed by law and a gauntlet before annoying questions from shareholders. However, through the observations shared here, we want to illustrate that it represents a good opportunity to attract shareholders as brand ambassadors and to tie them closer to society and its mission.
In the next blog in this series, the data hunger of a wide variety of protagonists and the connections between general meeting data, data analysis and technology will be examined. We also show how modern tools increase the efficiency and precision of these important corporate events.
We are happy to provide our innovative GV tool during a non-binding demo appointment closer ahead.
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