Burberry suffers pay revolt

BURBERRY has suffered a shareholder revolt after nearly a third of investors voted against its pay policy at its annual general meeting yesterday.

The protest, led by shareholder advisory groups ISS, the Pensions & Investment Research Consultants and The Investment Association, saw 31.5pc of shareholders reject the pay package for finance boss Julie Brown and ex- chief executive Christopher Bailey.

Bailey, now president and chief creative officer after handing his chief executive position to Marco Gobbetti, is in line for a £5.4m share award.

Brown, who is due to get a large share award to make up for the bonus she lost leaving Smith & Nephew, had already handed back up to £2.4m in shares to quell shareholder unrest.

Chairman Sir John Peace said the payouts were necessary to attract the best talent.

He told shareholders: ‘What we try to do is make sure that we retain some of the best people in the industry.

‘Over the course of the last few years we’ve been going through quite a significant change... so to steer us through that transformation we have brought the right people... as well as keeping the talent that we have within the organisation.

‘But be very clear, the remuneration committee’s intent, and my intent, is to do what’s right for shareholders and what’s right for business. It’s not just to do things and be excessive.’