Using voting rights
Philips Pensioenfonds can use its voting rights to indirectly influence the quality of governance at the companies in which it invests. In the long term, this can help to increase the value of the investments and/or reduce the risks. Philips Pensioenfonds has a voting policy in place to help it maximise the impact of its voting rights. The premise underlying that policy is that companies can only be run properly if they have transparent management and efficient supervision.
Execution of the voting policy
Just as it has done with its investments, Philips Pensioenfonds has outsourced the job of implementing its voting policy to the pension fund’s asset manager, BlackRock. The asset manager exercises the voting rights of Philips Pensioenfonds at as many shareholder meetings as possible worldwide, based on voting advice from third parties. Given that Philips Pensioenfonds is ultimately responsible for how the asset manager votes, the pension fund periodically reviews that advice for compatibility with its voting policy. Philips Pensioenfonds can also vote directly at meetings if and when it feels that this is necessary. If Philips Pensioenfonds wishes to exercise its right to add items to the agenda for a particular shareholder meeting, it will first consult the company’s board of directors, and will present an explanation during the meeting itself.
In our opinion, our voting policy is compatible with the provisions of the Dutch Corporate Governance Code that apply to the pension fund.
Report on execution of the voting policy
Philips Pensioenfonds publishes a summary on its website about the execution of the voting policy every quarter.
For information about the voting behavior per shareholder meeting per company, click here to view the share investments (in Dutch). Click here to find how each company has voted. More information about the implementation of the voting policy by the asset manager can be found on the BlackRock website. For example, this document contains the principles that are used in this regard.
2024 – Q3
During the third quarter of 2024, Philips Pension Fund voted at 583 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was approximately 98.8% of all meetings where voting was possible. Most meetings vote on multiple topics. Of a total number of votes of 4,833, 349 votes (i.e. 7.1%) were against recommendations from the board of the company in question. The main items voted against were management remuneration and appointments of certain board members. In many cases, these types of negative votes are the result of suboptimal organization of company management, such as insufficient independence. In addition, these negative votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency about and management of risks related to climate change.
2024 – Q2
During the second quearter of 2024, Philips Pension Fund voted at 3894 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was approximately 97.4% of all meetings where voting was possible. Most meetings vote on multiple topics. Of a total number of votes of 45,919, 3,244 votes (i.e. 6.4%) were against recommendations from the board of the company in question. The main items voted against were management remuneration and appointments of certain board members. In many cases, these types of negative votes are the result of suboptimal organization of company management, such as insufficient independence. In addition, these negative votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency about and management of risks related to climate change.
2024 - Q1
During the first quarter of 2024, Philips Pension Fund voted at 777 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was approximately 98.0% of all meetings where voting was possible. Most meetings vote on multiple topics. Of a total number of votes of 7,651, 638 votes (i.e. 8.0%) were against recommendations from the board of the company in question. The main items voted against were management remuneration and appointments of certain board members. In many cases, these types of negative votes are the result of suboptimal organization of company management, such as insufficient independence. In addition, these negative votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency about and management of risks related to climate change.
2023 - Q4
During the fourth quarter of 2023, Philips Pensioenfonds voted at 765 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was about 99.0% of all meetings in which voting was possible. At most meetings, votes are cast on several topics. Out of a total number of 5,217 votes, 479 votes (9.2%) were against company management recommendations. The main items voted against were remuneration of management and appointments of certain board members. These kinds of votes are increasingly the result of a suboptimal structure of company management, such as insufficient independence. But also insufficient transparency and management of risks related to climate change.
2023 - Q3
During the third quarter of 2023, Philips Pensioenfonds voted at 611 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was about 98.4% of all meetings in which voting was possible. At most meetings, votes are cast on several topics. Out of a total number of 5,212 votes, 394 votes (7.6%) were against company management recommendations. The main items voted against were remuneration of management and appointments of certain board members. These kinds of votes are increasingly the result of a suboptimal structure of company management, such as insufficient independence. But also insufficient transparency and management of risks related to climate change.
2023 - Q2
During the second quarter of 2023, Philips Pensioenfonds voted at 3853 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was about 94.2% of all meetings in which voting was possible. At most meetings, votes are cast on several topics. Out of a total number of 46,441 votes, 3352 votes (7.2%) were against company management recommendations. The main items voted against were remuneration of management and appointments of certain board members. These kinds of votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency and management of risks related to climate change.
2023 - Q1
During the first quarter of 2023, Philips Pensioenfonds voted at 702 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was about 95.4% of all meetings in which voting was possible. At most meetings, votes are cast on several topics. Out of a total number of 7,204 votes, 585 votes (8.1%) were against company management recommendations. The main items voted against were remuneration of management and appointments of certain board members. These kinds of votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency and management of risks related to climate change.
2022 - Q4
During the fourth quarter of 2022, Philips Pensioenfonds voted at 660 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was about 96.5% of all meetings in which voting was possible. At most meetings, votes are cast on several topics. Out of a total number of 4,953 votes, 343 votes (6.9%) were against company management recommendations. The main items voted against were remuneration of management and appointments of certain board members. These kinds of votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency and management of risks related to climate change.
2022 - Q3
During the third quarter of 2022, Philips Pensioenfonds voted at 534 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was about 98.3% of all meetings in which voting was possible. At most meetings, votes are cast on several topics. Out of a total number of 4,774 votes, 370 votes (7.8%) were against company management recommendations. The main items voted against were remuneration of management and appointments of certain board members. These kinds of votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency and management of risks related to climate change.
2022 - Q2
During the second quarter of 2022, Philips Pensioenfonds voted at 3,812 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was about 95.9% of all meetings in which voting was possible. At most meetings, votes are cast on several topics. Out of a total number of 45,292 votes, 3,460 votes (7.6%) were against company management recommendations. The main items voted against were remuneration of management and appointments of certain board members. These kinds of votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency and management of risks related to climate change.
2022 - Q1
During the first quarter of 2022, Philips Pensioenfonds voted at 733 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was about 94.2% of all meetings in which voting was possible. At most meetings, votes are cast on several topics. Out of a total number of 7,014 votes, 564 votes (7.9%) were against company management recommendations. The main items voted against were remuneration of management and appointments of certain board members. These kinds of votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency and management of risks related to climate change.
2021 - Q4
During the fourth quarter of 2021, Philips Pensioenfonds voted at 819 shareholder meetings worldwide through its asset manager. That was about 95.0% of all meetings in which voting was possible. At most meetings, votes are cast on several topics. Out of a total number of 5,710 votes, 471 votes (8.2%) were against company management recommendations. The main items voted against were remuneration of management and appointments of certain board members. These kinds of votes are increasingly the result of insufficient transparency and management of risks related to climate change.