Now Balfour Beatty is hit by row over fat cat pay

BALFOUR Beatty has become the latest firm to receive a bloody nose over fat cat pay.

Nearly 14pc of votes cast at the builder’s AGM were against bumper pay packets handed out last year. Chief executive Leo Quinn, 61, was paid £5.3m, nearly 300pc more than 2016 due to £2m in long-term incentives.

Finance director Phillip Harrison, 56, was paid £1.9m, including £751,897 from a long-term incentive award.

Since arriving in 2015, Quinn has helped turn the FTSE 250 business around after it struggled with costs. Its share price has risen from below 160p in 2014 to above 306p yesterday.

Some shareholders are thought to have wanted bosses to wait longer for longterm incentive plan shares.

A Balfour spokesman said: ‘We are pleased with the support received by our remuneration report. Only one of our top 20 shareholders voted against the report.’

Balfour is among several firms to face shareholder unrest over pay this year.

Nearly 26pc of shareholders in engineering turnaround firm Melrose failed to back the £167m for its directors last year. Insurer Direct Line faced a rebellion of 23pc, while almost 50pc of builder Persimmon’s investors voted down £75m for boss Jeff Fairburn.