Britain’s boards are set for a bruising round of investor revolts in June as the ‘shareholder spring’ picks up pace.
Investors at Morrisons have been advised to vote against executive pay packets after chief executive Dave Potts saw his earnings jump despite profits more than halving.
Informa, the world’s largest events company, is facing a massive revolt over ‘target-free’ bonuses for bosses, and there are also calls to vote down Google’s pay report.
Unrest: Two shareholder advisory firms have advised investors at Morrisons to vote down the pay report at the company’s AGM on June 11
Last month Rio Tinto suffered a 62 per cent vote against excessive pay for its outgoing bosses after the destruction of Aboriginal caves in Australia, while more than a quarter voted against a £33m bonus for the boss of Cineworld.
There have also been rebellions at Intertek, Savills, Playtech, Pearson, BAE Systems and Glencore. Shareholders have gained new confidence following the pandemic, because firms were forced to seek help from the Government in the form of taxpayer support to survive, and enforce redundancies and pay cuts.
Two shareholder advisory firms have advised investors at Morrisons to vote down the pay report at the company’s AGM on June 11.
In its annual report, the grocer revealed Potts received the maximum £1.7m bonus, despite profits falling to £165m from £435m the year before.
The board upgraded Potts’s payout by stripping out pandemic costs when calculating his rewards – pushing his bonus up to 200 per cent of salary.
Glass Lewis, a shareholder advisory, said the adjustments were ‘not supportable’, while ISS said it had ‘serious concerns’, adding they were ‘not considered fully in line with UK best practice’.
Yesterday Morrisons chairman Andy Higginson said bosses ‘earnt their bonus’, adding: ‘They did the right thing in working to keep the food supply chain open rather than worrying about their bonus.’
Another company facing a revolt is Informa, which has been criticised for its ‘target-free’ bonus scheme.
It replaced its long-term bonus with a generous and less onerous scheme despite more than 40 per cent of investors voting against the plan in December.
ISS and Glass Lewis have recommended a vote against the changes at the AGM.
Company insiders hit back saying the new plan reduces the chief executive’s total package ‘drastically’.
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