Investors boot JD Sports pay chief off the board in huge pay revolt

JD Sports shareholders have staged a huge rebellion over pay and booted a director off the board.

In an annual general meeting showdown, close to a third of votes went against the pay report, and investors in the sports fashion retailer sacked Andrew Leslie, who headed up the committee that determined executive bonuses.

The backlash followed a row over executive chairman Peter Cowgill’s £4.3million pay packet, handed out despite the company receiving £100million of government support in the pandemic.

Pay revolt: JD Sports handed its bosses lavish pay packets despite the company receiving £100m of government support in the pandemic

The company has resolutely held on to furlough cash and business rates relief, even as it pushed full-year profits guidance to £550million. 

Russ Mould, investment director of online broker AJ Bell, said the decision was ‘disgraceful’.

The rebellion is the latest in a summer of revolts nicknamed the shareholder spring.

Usually passive investors have found their voice at AGMs, voting against boards that pay extortionate bonuses to bosses after taking government support, making redundancies or slashing dividends.

Last month 70 per cent of Morrisons shareholders voted down a £1.7million bonus for boss Dave Potts. 

And close to half of Premier Inn-owner Whitbread’s shareholders lashed out executive bonuses, handed out despite the company taking £253million of taxpayer support and making a £1billion loss.

JD Sports executive chairman PeterCowgill, who has been at the firm since 2004, has earned £43.7m over 17 years

The gruelling JD Sports AGM marked the latest in a series of governance battles at the FTSE 100 giant, which also owns Blacks, Go Outdoors and Millets. 

Under pressure, the firm announced that the executive chairman role held by Cowgill will be split.

The move, which followed pressure to appoint an independent chairman, came as 15 per cent of shareholders voted against his re-election. 

Cowgill, who has been at the firm since 2004, has earned £43.7million over 17 years. JD also accepted the need to promote greater diversity at board level after facing criticism for having an all-white board.

The firm also upgraded its profit outlook after solid trading since shops reopened, but warned over the impact of the resurgence in Covid-19 cases.

Sales have been ‘particularly encouraging’ in the UK since lockdown restrictions have eased, it said.

The group raised its pre-tax profit expectations for the year to at least £550million, up from £324million the previous year. Shares rose 5.4 per cent, or 50p, to 969p.

But JD said the rise in coronavirus cases amid the spread of the Delta variant is affecting its core customer base.

It said that this, together with the uncertainty over the crisis and possible further lockdowns, means it will wait before handing back any Government furlough support.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk