Nearly nine in 10 newly launched companies do not have any women on their boards at the time of listing, prompting calls from governance experts for founders, investment banks and advisers to act quickly to improve the “shocking” statistic.

Just 12.2 per cent of the 401 companies to launch initial public offerings over the 2019-2022 financial years had female directors at the time, new data shows, with that figure trending down in FY2022 to hit just 11.4 per cent.