UK Government Names and Shames 28 Firms With No Female Board Members

Britain's business secretary Vince Cable has warned the country's largest companies that they "need to take firm action now" to get more women into the boardroom after he named and shamed the groups that have yet to have one woman on their board.

In a letter to the 250 largest companies in the UK, Cable and Lord Davies said doing nothing is not an option any more" and that "we will continue to shine the spotlight on the remaining companies" that have not met the target of having 25% of board members as women.

"This is not about political correctness. This is about good governance and good business," said Cable and Lord Davies wrote in their letter to FTSE250 chairmen.

"The international evidence supports this: diverse boards are better boards benefiting from fresh perspectives, opinions and new ideas which ultimately serve the company's long term interests."

"Having reached a position where it is unacceptable for the voice of women to be absent from the boardroom, it is disappointing to see there are still 29 all-male boards in the FTSE250."

Cable and Lord Davies said JD Sports Fashion, Enterprise Inns and a variety of financial firms such as 3i Infrastructure, Centamin, City of London Investment Trust, and Perpetual Income & Growth Investment Trust were among those with no women on their boards.

Currently, the largest 23% of boardroom positions are filled by women at FTSE250 companies, with the biggest rise being during March and October this year of 3%.

According to the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, the 23% of women on FTSE250 boards equates to only 249 of 1,094 board positions.

Meanwhile, 19 FTSE250 companies only appointed one woman since March this year.

Out of all FTSE100 companies, female representation on boards only account for 8.4% of executive directorships.