Decline of diversity in the last year

GENDER diversity among Britain’s biggest listed companies declined over the past year, despite evidence showing that a higher proportion of female executives could help nearly double profits.

The annual Women Count report by The Pipeline, which delivers female leadership programmes, said the number of FTSE 350 companies with no women on their executive committee increased since 2016, with eight more firms having all-male boards.

Only 65 of 791 executive directors were women.