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UK company shareholders are applying a “ridiculous” set of priorities when voting on board proposals, according to an analysis by proxy agency PIRC.

The agency found the second biggest cause of investor dissent in the first half of this year – beaten only by executive pay – were resolutions seeking authority to call shareholder meetings on 14 days' notice.

It was “incredible” that 4.5% of shareholders were voting against such resolutions when only a negligible percentage were protesting the appointment of directors or auditors, the agency said.

“Whilst it is obviously the right of shareholders to prioritize their own concerns, this strikes us as ridiculous,” said PIRC.

Nonetheless, the agency's analysis showed that shareholders have become more willing to vote against executive pay deals over the last six months.

The average vote against a remuneration report was 6.1% in the first six months of 2011, compared to 5.6% in all of 2010. The number of shareholders abstaining also increased.

The percentage of shareholders either voting against a pay deal or abstaining is almost twice what it was in 2008, the year the financial crisis hit, the agency said.

The higher levels of dissent reflect growing dissatisfaction across all companies, said PIRC. In 2008 over eight in ten remuneration reports were passed with a vote against of less than 5%; this year only two-thirds were passed with that level of dissent.

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