LONDON (Reuters) – Company directors will remain under pressure from shareholders over executive pay long after the market downturn ends and lawmakers stop the heckling that has helped prompt votes against remuneration policies at this year’s annual meetings.

Investors and directors say the days of shareholders rubber-stamping company resolutions at Annual General Meetings (AGMs) is over and directors will have to get used to investors being more vocal on many areas of company business.

LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) – Company directors will remain
under pressure from shareholders over executive pay long after
the market downturn ends and lawmakers stop the heckling that
has helped prompt votes against remuneration policies at this
year’s annual meetings.

Investors and directors say the days of shareholders
rubber-stamping company resolutions at Annual General Meetings

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) – UK-based BG Group said it
would review all Argentine bidders’ creditworthiness before
selling them gas, after the nationalisation of energy company
YPF raised the risks of doing business there.

Despite its huge oil and gas reserves, Argentina is reliant
on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet its energy
needs, but credit ratings agency Moody’s said the seizure of a
51 percent stake in YPF from Spain’s Repsol
announced last month made Argentina a more risky place to do
business.

LONDON May 3 (Reuters) – British gas and oil producer BG
Group Plc said it had agreed to sell its Brazilian gas
distribution business Comgas to Cosan for $1.8
billion as it unveiled soaring first quarter profits on the back
of higher oil prices and production.

BG is selling its 60 percent stake in Comgas as part of a $5
billion disposal programme to channel resources from downstream
distribution and power generation assets into more lucrative
upstream oil and gas production projects.

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil producer BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) reported a bigger-than-expected 13 percent drop in underlying quarterly profit, as production fell after the group was forced to sell fields to pay for the Gulf of Mexico disaster, offsetting an increase in crude prices.

BP said on Tuesday output would continue to decline in the second quarter as it unveiled plans to sell a number of mature fields in the Gulf.

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil producer BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a bigger-than-expected drop in profits on Tuesday, despite an increase in crude prices, as production fell after it was forced to sell fields to pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

London-based BP added it would continue its disposal program, putting some smaller fields in the Gulf of Mexico on the block. A spokesman said the group was not pulling back from the area but was seeking to focus on larger fields there.

LONDON (Reuters) – Companies are planning for a two speed Europe, devising strategies to take advantage of growth in the northern part of the continent while plotting more corporate austerity for the moribund south.

Dismal overall European sales were a recurring theme among big U.S. and European companies reporting first quarter results in the past fortnight.

LONDON (Reuters) – Companies are planning for a two speed Europe, devising strategies to take advantage of growth in the northern part of the continent while plotting more corporate austerity for the moribund south.

Dismal overall European sales were a recurring theme among big U.S. and European companies reporting first quarter results in the past fortnight.

LONDON (Reuters) – Companies are planning for a two speed Europe, devising strategies to take advantage of growth in the northern part of the continent while plotting more corporate austerity for the moribund south.

Dismal overall European sales were a recurring theme among big U.S. and European companies reporting first quarter results in the past fortnight.

BOSTON/LONDON (Reuters) – As China’s economy cools, some big U.S. and European companies are losing what had been one of their surest growth bets.

Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), 3M Co (MMM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), United Technologies Corp (UTX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and ABB Ltd (ABBN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) are among the manufacturers that have reported weak performances in China in the first quarter, as economic growth slowed to a near three-year-low.