PIRC : independent research and advisory consultancy

PIRC is the UKs' leading independent research and advisory consultancy providing services to institutional investors on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. Since 1986, it has been the pioneer and champion of good corporate governance within the UK.
Authoritative resource
PIRC has a wide spectrum of clients ranging from pension funds, faith-based investors, trade unions to banks and asset managers. Its Corporate Governance Service is an authoritative and vital resource for active investors, whilst its widely-read Shareholder Voting Guidelines provide a market-wide benchmark for investors and forms part of the movement for corporate governance reform and long-term wealth creation strategies for responsible investors.

For more information about PIRC or to arrange a meeting, contact Janice Hayward, or call us on 0207 247 2323.

Tesco investors urged to support chicken protest

June 18 2008

Financial Times

Tesco's institutional shareholders have been asked to lend support to a campaign by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the television chef, to improve the quality of life of chickens destined for supermarket freezer cabinets.

Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall has bought shares in Tesco and put forward a resolution for next week's annual meeting demanding the supermarket sign up to a higher level of RSPCA-supported chicken rearing.

Pirc, the corporate governance organisation more used to advising investors on a company's board structure or executive remuneration, has lent its support to the celebrity, arguing in a note published yesterday that his resolution "is not unduly prescriptive" and that it was "reasonable to request that the company set a more explicit time-frame in meeting its own stated welfare policy commitments".