IR Monitor – 14 January 2026

In this week’s newsletter:

• Record shareholder activism in 2025 paves the way for further corporate shake-ups
• JPMorgan shifts from traditional proxy advisers to AI: its internal platform, “Proxy IQ”, will now be used to manage votes for more than 3,000 annual company meetings 
• Another predictable surprise: is the under-promising to over-delivering routine at Next deliberate? asks Alistair Osborne of The Times
• Oversized and over there: the FT on the outlook for IPOs in 2026
• More IR officers wanted in KSA: Saudi market opens to all foreign capital next month
• And finally … your last chance for the last of Alex book launch next week

This week’s news

Record shareholder activism in 2025 

Shareholder activist campaigns hit a record the last year, Barclays data reveals. From equity market volatility to the Trump administration’s favourable attitudes towards mergers and acquisitions, the Barclays report author Jim Rossman notes that the market environment was primed for activist strategies, when “just about everything worked in their favour in 2025”. Barrons highlights the record number of 255 global campaigns in 2025, up 5% from 2024. By sector, Industrials, Technology and Healthcare attracted 55% of these campaigns. By region, the US remained at the centre of the storm accounting for 55% of campaigns, up 23% YOY. Japan set a further record accounting for 22% globally last year. Europe declined, down 18% YOY,  but here we at FTI Consulting were proud to rank as the number one adviser for 2025. For further information on the dedicated activist defence team at FTI, please contact [email protected].

Traditional proxy advisors or AI?

JPMorgan is swapping proxy advisors for artificial intelligence, Bloomberg reports. In a major overhaul to how it votes shares in US companies, the bank’s asset management division has ditched its use of proxy-advisory firms such as Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services. JP will now rely on an internal AI platform, Proxy IQ, to analyse data on over 3,000 annual meetings and manage votes. CEO Jamie Dimon, in his annual letter to shareholders, has previously criticised advisers on their “undue influence” on investors who cast votes on sensitive matters like executive pay and ESG matters based on their recommendations. Another critic of proxy advisers is Donald Trump, who has sought to limit their influence, partially based on concerns about their impact on companies’ DE&I initiatives. Having already pledged to eliminate these third-party recommendations from its voting systems, this new move by JP will cut ties with traditional proxy advisers’ voting management services altogether.

Next CEO Lord Wolfson on under-promising and over-delivering

Alistair Osborne for The Times questions whether Next CEO Lord Wolfson’s pattern of underestimating his company’s Christmas period sales results is a reflection of his humility or a deliberate strategy to bump up share prices. For the past five years, Wolfson’s guidance for year-on-year pick-up in Christmas period full-price sales has been consistently lower than the outcome – this year was a 7% predicted increase, outshone by the actual 10.6% figure. As a result, Next was able to upgrade its pre-tax profit guidance by £15m to £1.15bn for the year ending January 31st 2026, leading to a further 5% share price increase. Osborne highlights that these bumps allow Wolfson to ensure reliable capital returns to investors. Wolfson denies deliberately under-promising, citing factors such as steadier UK festive demand, strong international online sales growth, and improvements in marketing that play a role in the better-than-expected sales rise. His sales and pre-tax profit outlook for next year are – guess what? – conservative with a forecasted rise of 4.5% from the previous year.

A big year for IPOs – Financial Times

2026 could be a “vintage year” for IPOs, with US megadeals set to come to fruition. The FT argues that a wave of heavyweight listings, including SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, could dominate global markets, forcing a reallocation of capital & attention towards the US. However, this resurgence is likely to come at the expense of Europe, where issuers continue to struggle to build growth narratives that resonate with global investors. With fund managers acutely aware of the career risk associated with missing a blockbuster US IPO, investor attention is likely to remain heavily skewed towards these megadeals, intensifying the crowding-out effect across other markets. Even where European firms have pursued US listings, as with Birkenstock and Klarna, deeper liquidity has not guaranteed visibility in an increasingly competitive market. As global investors prioritise “must-own” assets, 2026 may be less about where a European company lists, and more about whether it is perceived as essential to own in a global portfolio. 

Saudi opens to foreign capital

Saudi Arabia is taking another step towards increasing the openness of its capital markets to global investors, announcing it will remove restrictions on foreign participation from February 1. The decision reflects a broader effort to revitalise the “Arab world’s biggest stock exchange”, by deepening liquidity, increasing the investor base and accelerating economic diversification as the Kingdom reduces its oil dependence. In recent years, Riyadh has taken a range of steps to draw in overseas capital, including strengthening ties with Asian markets through partnerships in Japan and Hong Kong. Restrictions on investment in companies linked to Mecca and Medina has also been eased by regulators, reports Reuters. Analysts, however, have expressed scepticism over the scale of the immediate impact, given most institutional investors already have market access. Market sentiment has nevertheless been supported by growing speculation that regulators could relax foreign ownership limits, currently at a 49% cap – a catalyst that may help unlock fresh international inflows.

 And finally… The Last of Alex final call

You are warmly invited to join us at FTI Consulting London next week, on Tuesday 20th January 2026, for a celebratory drinks reception marking the release of ‘The Last of Alex 2025,’ with creators Russell Taylor and Charles Peattie in attendance. Following Alex’s unexpected departure from The Daily Telegraph last year, regular readers may have wondered whether an end of year collection would even arrive – but the new collection is now with us. While it may not be the final Alex book, this edition is expected to be the last annual drawn directly from the newspaper series. It features the concluding strips from 2024 and 2025, including Alex’s remarkable discovery that his entire world is a computer-generated simulation. The event will also celebrate Charles and Russell’s 38 years of writing the cartoon. All guests will receive a complimentary copy of the book. We look forward to welcoming you. Register here!