Citywire Money > News Stay connected: Shareholders take aim at FTSE 250 bosses' pay

-
Analysis of the 2017 AGM season voting data, conducted by trade body The Investment Association (IA), has shown that FTSE 100 companies who saw large shareholder votes against pay in 2016 have responded by submitting more conservative pay policies for their executive teams in 2017. The IA noted a 35% decrease in 2017 remuneration resolutions that received over 20% dissent.
It was a different story with FTSE 250 businesses, which saw dissent amongst shareholders double from 2016 levels. During 2017, there were 29 companies with votes that attracted more than 20% dissent. This compares to a dissent level of 15% in 2016.
‘Data from the 2017 AGM season shows that investors are flexing their muscles and holding big business to account,’ said IA chief executive Chris Cummings.
‘Executive pay amongst the UK’s largest companies is starting to decline to a level more in line with shareholder expectations. There is still some way to go, but a strong signal has been sent to boardrooms around the country that investors won’t tolerate rewards that are out of line with company performance and have concerns about executives’ spiralling pay.’
Shareholders also scrutinised the accountability of individual directors at AGMs this year. Votes of 20% or more cast against individual directors soared 525%, from four directors in 2016 to 21 directors in 2017.
The AGM season also saw a new trend of several FTSE 350 companies withdrawing resolutions on executive pay packages ahead of shareholders voting. This was due to concerns that the packages might attract significant investor rebellion.
Advertising giant WPP saw one of the most high profile shareholder rebellions this year, after 33.5% of shareholders opposed chief executive Martin Sorrell's £70 million pay package.
In May, Old Mutual's shareholders also threatened rebellion over executive remuneration. At the firm’s AGM, 28% of shareholders voted against a motion to approve the remuneration report for the year ended 31 December 2016.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aquashield Oil and Marine Services protects Nigeria’s waters against criminal activity

-
Image
Offshore industries in Nigeria are afflicted by the ever-present risk of piracy, sea robbery, militancy and kidnapping. With the threat level showing little sign of abating, security companies are gearing up to provide crucial protection services. The ongoing crisis scenario that plagues Nigeria’s territorial waters has prompted a dramatic transformation of the offshore security industry in the region. The industry was previously focused on unregulated fishing and other low-level issues, but has now evolved to tackle combative security threats such as illegal bunkering, the vandalism of oil and gas installations, piracy, sea robbery, militancy and kidnapping. Behind this shift is a destructive bout of youth restlessness in the Niger Delta region. The predicament has dealt a serious blow to the oil and gas industry, leading to reduced revenues for international companies that operate in the region. Similarly, its effects have also been damaging to the insurance companies that cov...
Read more

Kenya Airways gets US Govt. nod for direct flights

-
United States President Donald Trump has approved Kenya Airways application for direct flights from Nairobi to the US. According to an order released yesterday by the US Department of Transportation, neither Trump, nor his representative, rejected the application by the national carrier for the direct flights. Interested parties had been given 21 days to file objections to the order. On the other hand, Trump had 60 days to disapprove the application but did not, hence the application became valid on September 5, 2017. Kenya Airways is now allowed to transport persons, property, and mail from any point or points behind Kenya, via any point or points in Kenya and any intermediate points, to any point or points in the United States and beyond, the order read in part. “We make final our findings and conclusions as stated in the order and award to Kenya Airways PLC the foreign air carrier permit with associated conditions attached to the order,” US director of international a...
Read more

Self-service car sharing comes to Morocco

-
Image
It’s the perfect match for modern day living: self-service cars, by the hour or day, accessible 24/7 and with parking, fuel and insurance costs included. This, a first for Morocco, is on offer in Casablanca from the startup Carmine. Now that self-service bikes have rolled into the country, cars are following suit and offer a much-wanted service in the economic capital, burdened with increasing, chaotic traffic. The firm was created in 2014, and tested the waters with a pilot project in July 2015. According to CEO and founder Mohamed Mrani Alaoui, this was, “A period during which we really reached maturity.” There was a lot to do: running trials on rates, defining parking spaces through a partnership with the city, personalising technology and getting to know client needs. “People thought the concept wouldn’t work in Morocco, to judge by the time it took us to go into commercial operation,” says Alaoui. “But that pilot period was about making the new service more...
Read more