Technology will enable M&S nominee shareholders to access meetings virtually or in person

Liphook 6th July 2023 – Lumi, the global market leader in delivering AGMs, investor events and member meetings, today announces its involvement in facilitating a pilot project to connect M&S directly with thousands of nominee shareholders.

M&S has partnered with Interactive Investor, the UK’s second largest investment platform for private investors, to launch a first-of-its-kind pilot project which will connect the company directly with thousands of nominee shareholders, encouraging them to participate and vote at its AGM. The pilot is the latest step in the Share Your Voice campaign which aims to overhaul company law to make it easier for individual shareholders who invest in UK plc to have a say in the companies they invest in.

Lumi has worked behind the scenes with Interactive Investor’s proxy voting service provider, Broadridge, which is facilitating the pilot alongside the M&S registrar Equiniti. The company’s proprietary hybrid meeting technology will allow M&S nominee shareholders to attend in-person or virtually using a secure login. Its innovative and secure platform will mean shareholders can not only attend the meeting live from any location, but also ask questions in writing or verbally using the virtual microphone, and cast votes on resolutions in real-time.

This is an important step forward in shareholder inclusivity. Lumi’s Shareholder Roadblocks report found 48% of UK shareholders are blocked from attending AGM because they don’t own direct shares, despite 92% wanting to be able to have their say.

Pete Fowler, COO at Lumi Global said: “We are proud to be a part of this important first step by M&S to open up meetings to all shareholders. Retail shareholders are growing in number thanks to new investment platforms, and we know they want to have their say in how these companies are run. Using the latest hybrid meeting technology to allow all shareholders to attend a meeting in-person or virtually, wherever they are based, will be a key step in making meetings more accessible and inclusive.”