On 22nd October 2013, Etica Sgr voted for the second time the AGM of Symantec Corporation, an American corporation that operates in the software & computer services sector.
Etica Sgr voted in favour of all Directors candidates because it has appreciated their skills and it has nothing to report about their backgrounds; Etica Sgr has appreciated the company corporate governance structure including the high majority of independent directors on the board, the separation between CEO and the Chairman roles and the high percentage of gender diversity.
Etica Sgr abstained from the voting of auditor ratification item because KPMG LLP has been the Auditor of the Company for 11 years and Etica Sgr would like to have more evidence of the Auditor’s independence.
Etica Sgr has voted against executive compensation because it has taken into consideration some points of weakness: the enhancement of CEO variable and fixed compensation is considered excessive compared with the opposite trend of some long term performance indicators; CEO total compensation has been evaluated considerably greater than the median of its peers compensations; the ratio between variable and fixed remuneration has been evaluated as not properly balanced. Besides, the Company has not provided remunerations schemes linked to ESG issues goals and it does not report about the CEO and the average of all Company’s employees remuneration ratio.
Etica Sgr has voted in favor of both equity 2013 incentive plan and 2008 employee stock purchase plan because it has considered this proposals a fair incentives in favor of all employees and, for this reason, a good way to raise employees’ sensitiveness on Symantec activities and to align their interests with stockholders’ ones.
Lastly, Etica Sgr has voted for the approval of the amended and restated senior executive incentive plan because it appreciates the information transparency regarding the plan and because the approval of it will bring benefits also to shareholders in terms of deductibility of premiums paid.
