Companies including Legal & General, Royal Bank of Scotland, Prudential and Barclays are suggesting
shareholders either read reports online or via shorter printed summaries.

Such advice from the FTSE 100 firms is likely to cause alarm for R&A printers, but follows the Companies Act ruling that allows PLCs to drop printed reports, should their shareholders vote to do so. However, the news came after reports this week that HSBC’s latest 454pp R&A document is causing “frustration” among executives and shareholders.

Royal Mail has had to limit the number carried by postmen, while there are doubts over whether report and accounts deliver the information investors really want.

A spokeswoman for the Royal Bank of Scotland said: “We are actively asking shareholders to receive reports electronically, and for our printed reports this year, we used a lighter weight of paper and it is nothing like as heavy as HSBC’s.”

John Godfrey, corporate communications director at Legal & General said: “We actively encourage our shareholders to receive the information electronically.”

Both Prudential and Barclays said they encouraged their shareholders to take a summary version of the report. Alliance & Leicester provides a shortened report, as well as the printed and online versions.

BT print and logistics director Sandra Gonzalez-Parkinson said: “Our annual report last year was 148pp and most of our shareholders opt for the summary version, which is 32pp.”

A spokeswoman at Lloyds TSB added: “At our AGM in May, shareholders will be asked to vote on whether documents, such as our annual report and other communications, can be received electronically.