Corporate Governance Report 2019
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Corporate Governance Report 2019 Annual Report 2019 INDEX Corporate Governance Report 2019 Part I: Shareholders’ structure, organisation and Corporate Governance A. Shareholders’ structure 8 I. Share Capital Structure 8 1. Share Capital Structure 8 2. Restrictions on the transfer and ownership of shares 8 3. Own shares – number, percentage of share capital they represent and percentage of voting rights that would correspond to own shares 8 4. Significant agreements with ownership clauses 8 5. Defensive measures in case of change of control 8 6. Shareholders’ agreements 8 II. Qualified shareholdings and securities held by members of the statutory governing bodies 9 7. Qualified shareholdings 9 8. Number of shares and bonds held by the members of the statutory governing bodies, pursuant to paragraph 5 of article 447 of the Portuguese Companies Act 10 9. Powers of the Board of Directors on share capital increase 12 10. Relevant business relationship between owners of qualified shareholdings and the Company 12 B. Governing Bodies and Committees 13 I. Shareholders’ General Meeting 13 11. Board of the Shareholders’ General Meeting: members and mandate 13 12. Restrictions on voting rights 13 13. Maximum percentage of voting rights that may be exercised by a single shareholder or by a group of shareholders that are related to the latter as set forth in paragraph 1 of article 20 of the Portuguese Securities Code 14 14. Deliberative quorum 14 II. Management and Supervision 15 15. Identification of the adopted governance model 15 16. Rules for nominating and replacing board members 16 17. Composition of the Board of Directors 17 18. Distinction between executive and non-executive members of the Board of Directors 18 02 Annual Report 2019 19. Professional qualifications and curricular references of the members of the Board of Directors 19 20. Usual and significant family, business and commercial relationships between members of the Board of Directors and shareholders with attributed qualified shareholdings 19 21. Division of powers between the different boards, committees and/or departments within the company, including the delegation of powers, particularly with regards to the delegation of the Company’s daily management 19 22. Internal regulation of the Board of Directors 27 23. Number of meetings held and attendance level of each Member of the Board of Directors 27 24. Competent bodies of the company to appraise the performance of Executive Directors 27 25. Predetermined criteria for evaluating the performance of Executive Directors 28 26. Availability of the members of the Board of Directors 28 27. Identification of committees created by the Board of Directors 28 28. Composition of the Executive Committee 29 29. Board committees and other advisors to the Board 30 III.Audit 38 30. Identification of The Supervisory Bodies 38 31. Composition 38 32. Independence 39 33. Professional qualifications and curricular references of the members of the Statutory Audit Board 39 34. Internal regulation of the Statutory Audit Board 39 35. Statutory Audit Board Meetings 39 36. Availability of the Statutory Audit Board members 39 37. Role of the Statutory Audit Board in the hiring of additional services from the external auditor 40 38. Other duties carried out by the Statutory Supervising Bodies 40 IV. Statutory External Auditor 43 39. Identification 43 40. Permanence in functions 43 41. Other services provided to the Company 43 V. External Auditor 43 42. Identification 43 43. Permanence in functions 43 44. Policy and frequency of rotation of the external auditor 44 45. Statutory governing body responsible for the external auditor’s assessment 44 03 Annual Report 2019 46. Additional work, other than audit services, performed by the external auditor and respective hiring process 44 47. Remuneration of the external auditor 44 C. Internal Organization 46 I. Articles of association 46 48. Rules applicable in the case of amendments to the company's articles of association 46 II. Reporting irregularities (whistleblowing) 46 49. Policy on reporting irregularities 46 III. Internal Control and Risk Management 46 50. Individuals, bodies or committees responsible for internal audit and / or implementation of internal control systems 46 51. Hierarchy and/or functional relationships with other company’s bodies 47 52. Other functional areas with risk control competencies 47 53. Identification and classification of main risks 47 54. Description of risk management processes: identification, assessment, monitoring, control and management 56 55. Description of the main features of Sonae’s risk management and internal control systems in relation to the preparation and disclosure of financial information 58 IV. Investor Relations 61 56. Investor Relations 61 57. Legal representative for capital market relations 62 58. Information requests 62 V. Website 62 59. Address 62 60. Location of the information mentioned in article 171 of the Portuguese companies act 62 61. Location for the provision of the articles of association, bodies and committees’ regulations 62 62. Location for the provision of information about the identity of the statutory governing bodies, the representative for market relations, the investor relations, respective functions and contact details 62 63. Location for the provision of accounting documents and calendar of corporate events 62 64. Location for the provision of the notices for shareholders’ general meetings and all related information 62 65. Location where the historical archives are available with resolutions adopted at the shareholders’ general meeting, the represented share capital and the voting results, with reference to the previous 3 years 63 D. Remuneration 64 04 Annual Report 2019 I. Power to establish 64 66. Responsibility for approving the remuneration of the company’s statutory governing bodies, executive directors and persons discharging managerial responsibilities (“dirigentes”) 64 II. Remuneration committee 64 67. Composition of the Remuneration Committee, identification of other individuals and entities hired to provide support and advisors’ statement of independence 64 68. Knowledge and experience of the members of the Remuneration Committee 64 III. Remuneration Structure 65 69. Description of the Remuneration Policy of The Board Of Directors and other Statutory Governing Bodies, as provided for In Article 2 of Law No. 28/2009, of 19th June 65 70. Remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors 69 71. Variable remuneration of the Executive Directors 70 72. Deferred payment of the remuneration’s variable component 70 73. Criteria that underlies the allocation of variable remuneration in shares and their maintenance 70 74. Criteria that underlies the allocation of variable remuneration in options 72 75. Main parameters and reasoning concerning annual bonuses and any other non-cash benefits 72 76. Main characteristics of complementary pension or early retirement schemes for the directors approved at the shareholders’ general meeting 72 IV. Disclosure of Remuneration 73 77. Indication of the annual remuneration earned, in aggregate and individual amount, by the company’s members of the Board of Directors 73 78. Any amounts paid by other controlled or group companies, or those under shared control 75 79. Remuneration paid in the form of profit sharing and/or bonus payments 76 80. Compensation paid or owed to former Executive Directors as a result of Term of Office 76 81. Remuneration of the Statutory Audit Board 76 82. Remuneration of the Chairman of the Board of the Shareholders’ General Meeting 76 V. Agreements with remuneration implication 76 83. Contractual limitations on compensations to be paid upon the director’s dismissal without due cause and its relation with the variable component of remuneration 77 84. Reference to the existence and description, stating the sums involved, of the agreements between the Company and members of the Board of Directors, providing for compensation in case of dismissal without due cause or termination of the employment relationship, following a change of control of the Company 77 VI. Share Attribution Plans or Stock Options 77 85. Identification of the plan and recipients 77 05 Annual Report 2019 86. Plan features 77 87. Option rights granted to acquire shares (“stock options”) where the beneficiaries are company employees 78 88. Control mechanisms in any system of employee participation in the share capital 78 E. Relevant Transactions with Related Parties 79 I. Mechanism of control procedures 79 89. Mechanisms for monitoring transactions with related parties 79 90. Transactions subjected to control during 2019 79 91. Description of the procedures and criteria for intervention of the statutory audit board, for the purpose of preliminary assessment of the business carried out between the Company and holders of qualified shareholdings or entities that are in a relation with them, under the terms of article 20 of the Portuguese Securities Code 79 II. Elements related to Transactions 79 92. Information on transactions with related parties 79 Part II: Statement of Compliance 1. Identification of the adopted Corporate Governance Code 81 2. Analysis of compliance with the adopted Corporate Governance Code 81 I.General Provisions 81 II.Shareholders and General Meetings 87 III. Non-Executive Management, Monitoring and Supervision 88 IV – Executive Management 92 V – Evaluation of Performance, Remuneration and Appointment 93 VI – Risk Management 98 VII – Financial Statements and Accounting 99