Activist investor Hestia Capital Management has had four of its five director candidates elected to the board Pitney Bowes following a campaign criticising the century-old shipping-services company's capital allocation and lagging share price, according to a report by Reuters.

As well as the four candidates proposed by Hestia, which is the company's third largest shareholder with a 9.1% stake, Pitney Bowes said a preliminary vote count showed that shareholders had also re-elected three other directors, including current chief executive Marc Lautenbach, and selected two directors nominated by the company. 

Hestia has been agitating for Pitney Bowes to explore alternative strategies for the global ecommerce segment of the business and to focus on cash-generating segments like its mail aggregation business and postage meter unit.