KUALA LUMPUR: Public listed companies (PLCs) have, on average, 17% women directors on their boards in 2020 and this was an increase from the 15% recorded in 2019, according to the Minority Shareholders Watch Group (MSWG) in its latest corporate governance (CG) 2020 assessment.

       The assessment excluded companies listed on the LEAP Market, PN17 and GN3 companies, and it used the Asean CG scorecard. In total, 851 PLCs were assessed in 2020.Although there was an increase in women directors on board, 220 of the PLCs had no female board representation, MSWG said.

       It also said 370 of the PLCs assessed have at least one woman director and 142 have at least 30% women on their boards.

       The number of PLCs paying dividends has declined to 445 in 2020, from 460 in 2019. As a comparison, there were 499 dividend-paying PLCs in the 2018 assessment.

       “This figure is expected to drop further in 2021 as PLCs are either badly impacted by the pandemic or are more prudent in profit distribution to shareholders.”The number of PLCs adopting Integrated Reporting has increased to 33 in 2020 from 22 in 2019.

       Integrated reporting is an approach that enhances the way businesses think, plan and report to their stakeholders on how value is created within their organisation. — Bernama