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Five years ago, ESG sat at the heart of almost every company’s policy agenda. So what’s changed? In this episode of  The Lens on Corporate Markets , Josh Sparks from MUFG Corporate Markets sits down with Nina Spencer and Livvie Kirkbride from leading ESG consultancy Addidat to unpack ESG fatigue, explore why momentum has shifted, and discuss why ESG still matters when done well. They share pr...

In this special episode, MUFG Corporate Markets’ Josh Sparks sits down with David Chase Lopes from D.F. King to unpack the newly released Annual General Meeting Season Review report - a fully bespoke, four‑month research project examining AGMs across the UK and Europe. Together, they explore how the governance landscape is shifting, what boards should prioritise going into 2026, and how companies...

In this episode, Josh Sparks is joined by Gustav Pegers from MUFG Corporate Markets’ Investor Relations team. This conversation was an opportunity for Gustav to share what IR trends his team are seeing across the market, as well as sharing some invaluable insights from MUFG Corporate Markets’ first client survey from earlier this year.   If you’d like to download our Investor Relati...

In this episode, MUFG Corporate Markets’ Josh Sparks is joined by Julian Macedo, founder of The Deal Team. This conversation was an opportunity for Julian to provide a high-level look at how IPO markets have evolved, reflect on the challenges boards and founders face, and explore what companies need to know before going public.   If you’d like to learn more about The Deal Team, please visit&n...

In this episode, MUFG Corporate Markets' Josh Sparks is joined by Oliver Cronk, Technology Director at bespoke software engineering consultancy, Scott Logic to discuss the practical realities of implementing AI in highly regulated markets.    From spending analysis, chatbots, to the risks of AI - this conversation cuts through the AI hype to focus on real-world applications, governa...

In this episode, MUFG Corporate Markets’ Josh Sparks catches up with David Chase Lopes from D.F. King Ltd. David takes us through what trends his team have been seeing across the M&A Landscape, the increase in shareholder activism as well as providing some key insights around Corporate Activity in 2025.   If you’d like to connect with David on LinkedIn, please visit  https://www.link...

In this episode, MUFG Corporate Markets’ Josh Sparks, catches up with Bod Buckby, Head of UK Primary Markets North, at London Stock Exchange. Bod take us through market trends his team have been seeing this year, as well as providing some key insights around IPO activity ahead of this year’s IPO Forum, which is London Stock Exchange’s flagship event intended to assist management teams and sharehol...

In this episode, Link Group’s Josh Sparks, Head of Partnerships and Intermediaries, catches up with Simon Olsen, Partner at Deloitte. Simon and his team recently published a report called ‘Resetting Expectations’, which provides a deep-dive into IPO market trends for 2024 and beyond. This conversation was an opportunity for Simon take us through what his team have been seeing across the market, so...

Share plans are one of the most celebrated ways for companies to reward their top talent and retain staff.   In this episode, Link Group’s very own Jake Dear sits down with Andy Martin, Group Share Plan Manager at Admiral Group plc. Andy and his team won the award for Best Overall Performance in Fostering Employee Share Ownership at the 2023 ProShare Awards, so this was an opportuni...

In this episode, Link Group’s very own Steve Playford sits down with Maureen Beresford, who leads the Corporate Governance and Stewardship Team at the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), and Karen Waldron from Company Matters, to talk us through the recently-published 2024 UK Corporate Governance Code, and what this means for issuer companies and practitioners. If you’d like to find out about the F...

Each year, D.F. King Ltd. publish their AGM Season Review report which looks at the highs and lows of the AGM season, unpicks trends in investor voting behaviour and provides unique insight into how the year has played out for European issuers. So in this episode, Link Group's Steve Playford caught up with David Chase Lopes, Managing Director EMEA of D.F. King Ltd to discuss his team's findings an...

Buying and selling shares in publicly traded companies represents a fundamental pillar of our economy, so in this episode Link Group’s very own Kris Berry-Trow sat down with Craig Valentine and Gavin Taylor whose day-to-day role involves exactly that. Their team also celebrated their 10 year anniversary this month; so what better excuse for the dealing experts to share insights from their unique p...

In this episode, you can listen back to a conversation with Paolo Casamassima who heads up our Global Market Intelligence team of Orient Capital, the Investor Relations division of Link Group. This discussion was an opportunity for Paulo to talk about his background, and take us through some of the trends taking shape in the IR industry and beyond. If you'd like to reach out to Paolo, you can conn...

In this episode, Gemma Owens grabbed a coffee with Link Group’s very own share plan expert Helen Hopkins. The resulting conversation covers insights from Helen’s 35 years of experience, as well as some top tips around some of the changes coming into effect this year to UK share plans, including the introduction of interest rates to Save As You Earn Plans.   If you’d like to find out more and...

In this episode, Link Group’s very own Steve Playford sat down with David Styles, who leads the Corporate Governance and Stewardship Team at the Financial Reporting Council to talk us through some of the changes underway to the UK Corporate Governance Code, and how you can get involved in their open consultation.   If you’d like to find out about the FRC and the changes to the UK Corporate Go...

In this episode, we playback a conversation recorded at London Stock Exchange Studios between Link Group’s Kris Berry-Trow, Steve Playford and Katherine Taylor on IPO trends in London in 2023, and what to expect in the future. If you are considering life on the public markets, and want to find out how the team at Link Group can help you on your journey to success, go to  https://www.link...

What are the barriers to social mobility within organisations? And how might they be overcome in the future to ensure that leadership represents a wider base of society, from all walks of life. We discussed this and more at our recent Ahead event where our very own Steve Playford hosted expert speakers Suzanne Courtney from Aon, Ann Francke OBE from Chartered Management In...

Listen back to our first Ahead event of 2023 where our very own Gemma Owens welcomed  Sonia Gilbert  from  Clifford Chance ,  Jeremy Edwards  from  Baker McKenzie , and  Eddie Arcari  from D.F. King to an interactive panel session to discuss remuneration trends anticipated in 2023. With 55% of FTSE 100 issuers taking their policies to the vote this year, it...

We recently hosted two events for our clients and industry partners to help drive improvements around how companies run their AGM, or any other form of shareholder meeting. Each event featured a brilliant presentation from Maureen Beresford and Kelvin Ernest from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) on new guidance they’ve issued to help make AGMs more simple, accessible and effective. We th...

This is the inaugural episode of ‘In Conversation With….’. A series of episodes where members of Link Group’s company secretarial team, Company Matters, get under the skin of everything happening in our industry.   To kick things off, our very own Michael Conway spoke with two distinguished guests about the role of the Company Secretary from a Non-Executive Director’s (or NED's) perspective....

In this episode, we play back highlights from a recent event with where Kathy Cong, MD of Company Matters spoke to Maureen Beresford, Head of Corporate Governance at Financial Reporting Council, and Link Group's Courtney Menzies and Jai Baker about the corporate governance trends and highlights of the year so far, as well as what's to come in the second half 2022. This event wa...

In this episode, we play back highlights from a recent event with guest speaker Blaire Palmer. During this session, Agent Provocateur Blaire Palmer, discussed how we can all be effective leaders and examined the many myths of leadership.   Blaire has spent the last 22 years coaching and challenging boards and senior leadership teams as they work out how to thrive – and how to ensure their org...

In this episode, we play back highlights from our recent Ahead event where Jai Baker, David Chase Lopes, Sara Kennaugh and Melissa Kittermaster discussed corporate governance trends to expect in 2022 and beyond.   Ahead is a community for governance professionals to discover new trends and ideas, discuss industry issues and connect with like-minded people. If you’d like to sign up to become a...

In this episode, Jai Baker catches up with Caroline Emmet from our Company Matters team to discuss board audit reforms underway, as well as sharing practical tips on how companies can adapt to these new rules with ease and confidence. If you want to stay up-to-date with future episodes, you might want to consider subscribing on whatever platform you’re listening to us. And if there’s a topic...

Each quarter we release our UK dividend monitor covering everything from payment trends to future outlooks across the FTSE 350. To coincide with the latest edition, we hosted a special webcast where Ian Stokes, Managing Director of Corporate Markets EMEA, caught up with Mark Baker from 5i Research UK and James Baxter-Derrington from Investment Week to discuss the topic: what does recovery look lik...