‘Saba 7’ AGMs prove investors will stand up and be counted
interactive investor shares engagement data for investment trust votes.
5th February 2025 16:18
- This data comes after continued innovation from interactive investor to break down barriers to engagement on voting – having won the prestigious AIC’s Shareholder Engagement Champion Award for four years in a row – every year since the award’s inception.
Engagement data from interactive investor, the second-largest investment platform for private investors, shows that when there’s an important vote on the table, retail shareholders show up in big numbers.
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Shareholders for six of the seven investment trusts have voted against Saba’s proposals to overhaul their boards. Today, The European Smaller Companies Trust had its general meeting, in which shareholders voted against the proposals.
Kyle Caldwell, funds and investment education editor at interactive investor, says: “There were fears among the investment trust industry that retail investors would not stand up and be counted. However, our customers have debunked those concerns and have shown up in high numbers to cast their votes.
“For the six investment trusts that have voted against Saba’s proposals, between 69% and 76% of shares were voted across the interactive investor platform. This shows that when shareholders are being asked to vote on a big issue – they turn up in big numbers. If successful, Saba’s longer-term plan was to potentially merge some of the trusts to form a new strategy of purchasing other discounted trusts.”
A breakdown of % shares voted on, and % of voted accounts on interactive investor, for each trust
|
Name of Trust |
% Shares voted on – final |
% Voted accounts -final |
|
69% |
63% | |
|
73% |
56% | |
|
72% |
67% | |
|
76% |
53% | |
|
73% |
61% | |
|
69% |
55% |
Source: interactive investor
|
Name of Trust |
% Shares voted on so far |
% Voted accounts -so far |
|
56% |
46% |
Source: interactive investor
N.B. Deadline for ii customers to vote: 10 February / Date for meeting to vote on Saba’s proposal: 14 February
Continued growth of engagement more broadly on interactive investor
Kyle Caldwell adds: “Over the past three years, we’ve seen greater levels of engagement among our customers, with 30% of shares voted across the interactive investor platform last year. This is up from 27% in 2023, and 22% in 2022.
“We’re never complacent. Of course, there is always room for improvement, but this is certainly a step in the right direction, which has been helped by our efforts to make voting as easy as possible – including a couple of years ago making the ability to vote the default setting, although customers can still opt out if they wish.”
interactive investor has led the way in championing shareholder engagement; supporting the voice and informed choice of the ordinary investor. The platform has made continued efforts to make engagement accessible and straightforward on interactive investor, and to help investors make confident and informed decisions.
This includes a number of initiatives to stop barriers to entry for retail investors and possible disenfranchisement, as well as market-leading educational content and guidance for investors on voting and AGMs, including on its podcast: ‘On The Money.’
In November 2021, interactive investor made the ability to vote online a default option for all customers, rather than them having to opt-in to use the platform’s voting capability (but customers can opt out if they wish). To date, a whopping 89% of customers are opted in and so have access to interactive investor’s Voting & Information service.
In 2023, interactive investor also became the first platform to introduce voting on its app. Through the innovative in-app features, opte- in interactive investor customers will be able to stay informed and keep on top of their voting actions. The app has a ‘traffic light’ system to help guide private investors through every stage of the AGM process.
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