Premier AGM hit by revolt over pay
BILLIONAIRE Solomon Lew has had to defend the performance of Premier Investments, after a protest vote against its remuneration report.
Premier’s chairman and biggest shareholder told its annual general meeting on Friday that he was upbeat about the future of retail.
However, an extraordinary 48.5 per cent of votes were cast against the retailer’s remuneration report — well above the 25 per cent threshold required to register as a “first strike”.
If that is repeated at next year’s AGM, a board spill motion will be triggered.
The report shows chief executive Mark McInnes’s fixed salary rose from $2.5m to $2.75m at the start of 2019-20, and he also received $2.5m in short-term incentive payments during the financial year.
Mr Lew pointed to the retailer’s outperformance of the broader sharemarket over the past decade as well as the leadership of Mr McInnes, who navigated the company through tough conditions brought on by the pandemic.
Mr Lew, who owns 40.4 per cent of Premier Investments, volunteered to not vote his large block of shares on the remuneration report resolution.
“What is clear is that this strike has been driven by some proxy advisers,” he said.
“I would remind them that remuneration is meant to reward performance and align management and shareholder interests. The quantum of this bonus was exactly the same as the prior year when Premier received a 96 per cent vote in favour of the remuneration report.”
A report by proxy adviser Ownership Matters said it was concerned about the formulation and payment of $2.5m in short-term incentives to Mr McInnes. It said Mr McInnes’s salary was now one of the largest among chief executives of ASX-listed companies.
Mr Lew told the AGM Premier was perfectly placed to benefit from the acceleration of online shopping.
Premier Retail, part of Premier Investments, owns a stable of fashion outlets including Just Jeans, Dotti, Portmans, Peter Alexander and stationery store Smiggle.
It dealt with forced store closures during the worst of the COVID-19 health crisis and sent its 9000 Australian and overseas workers home.
“Globally, Premier Retail’s online sales for the first 18 weeks of 2021 increased by 70 per cent over the same period of last year,” Mr Lew said.
“Looking ahead, we are very optimistic. We have strong collections of wanted product for each of our brands.”
Premier Investments’ shares closed 0.74 per cent, or 17c, higher on Friday at $23.