Tycoon Sorrell fends off new revolt over his £48m pay deal

MORE than a fifth of WPP shareholders voted against the £48m pay packet of boss Sir Martin Sorrell, in the latest backlash over executive pay.

The advertising giant’s bruising vote was followed by questions over who will step into the 72-year- old’s shoes when he eventually retires.

Sorrell founded WPP in 1985 and has received £210m in the last five years.

Last year, 34pc of shareholders voted against the £70.4m he received for 2015 in what was one of the largest payouts in corporate history.

While yesterday’s package was lower, it still drove 21.3pc of shareholders to vote against the pay, or abstain, and retains Sorrell’s crown as the highest-paid boss on the FTSE 100.

Investors maintained that executive pay at WPP continued to look excessive.

Ashley Hamilton Claxton, corporate governance manager at Royal London Asset Management, acknowledged the reduction to bonuses and incentives was a step in the right direction, but added: ‘The sheer scale of these remains exceptionally high, at over nine times the salary for the chief executive.’

The level of protest over WPP’s new remuneration policy, which will hand executives lower longterm incentive awards, was at a more modest 10pc.

Some shareholders raised concerns over succession plans.

Deborah Gilshan, Standard Life Investments governance and stewardship director, said: ‘We suggest that the board consider what lead time would be required to ensure an orderly succession and discuss this with Sir Martin.’

The vote followed a trading update for the first four months of the year.

Revenues rose 15.9pc to £4.8bn thanks to a boost from the fall in the pound since the Brexit vote. Stripping out the impact of the slump in sterling, revenues were up 0.7pc. Shares fell by 2.6pc, or 45p, to 1676p.