Cranfield Female FTSE Board Report 2016

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The Female FTSE Board Report 2016

FTSE 250 Companies

4.3 PACE OF CHANGE Similar to the FTSE 100 from September 2015 to March 2016, both the number of new appointments and the percentage of those appointments going to women was down with 140 new appointments and 25.7% of those being women. The appointment rate was particularly poor for executive directors. Of 65 new FTSE 250 executive director appointments last year, only six (9.2%) went to women.

TABLE 14: FTSE 250 NEW APPOINTMENTS ACROSS 6 MONTHS

Mar-16 Sep-15 Mar-15 Sep-14 Mar-14 Sep-13 Mar-13 Sep-12 Mar-12 Sep-11

New female appointments New male appointments Total new appointments Female % of new appointments

36

43

30

44

33

36

46

43

33

21

104 112 99

137 66

87

112 75

92

102

140 155 129 181 99

123 158 118 125 123

25.7% 27.7% 23.3% 24.3% 33.3% 29.3% 29.1% 36.4% 26.4% 17.1%

4.4 CROSS INDEX COMPARISON AND PACE OF CHANGE

The government supports Lord Davies’ revised target for all FTSE 350 company boards to have 33% female directors by 2020. If we look across the whole group, we see that this figure currently stands at 22.4%.

TABLE 15: FTSE 350 COMPARISONS

FTSE 100

FTSE 250

FTSE 350

At March 2016

279 (26.0%)

406 (20.4%)

685 (22.4%)

Female held directorships

26 (9.7%)

29 (5.6%)

55 (7.0%)

Female executive directorships

377 (25.7%)

630 (27.8%)

Female non-executive directorships 253 (31.4%)

6 (6%)

12 (4.8%)

18 (5.1%)

Female CEOs

4 (4%)

11 (4.4%)

15 (4.3%)

Female Chairs

Going back to 2012, we have tracked and predicted the progress of these numbers with our trajectories. From all three trajectories we can see that we will hit the 33% targets only if, going forward, one in three (33%) new appointments goes to a woman. We know from previous years that this is possible, but that it requires a concerted commitment by all involved. The current rate of female appointments is insufficient to meet this target. The trajectories assume that the total number of directorships remains the same and that the numbers of directors leaving the board each year reflect the gender balance of six years earlier, as the average tenure is six years. They have been calculated using an annual turnover rate of 14.5% and reveal possible proportions of women on boards with an appointment rate of one in three (33%) and one in four (25%).