Pay revolts rumble on as bosses ignore the ‘List of Shame’

THERESA May’s crackdown on excessive pay has had almost no effect on the number of investor revolts against fat cat bosses, analysis by The Mail on Sunday shows.

It is two years since the Prime Minister blasted overbloated City pay and perks as the ‘unacceptable face of capitalism...damaging the social fabric of our country’.

Shortly after, investor trade body the Investment Association launched a public register – dubbed ‘The List of Shame’ – designed to embarrass bosses into moderating pay demands.

But according to analysis of the Investment Association’s list and data provided by Proxy Insight, the number of pay revolts (defined as 20 per cent or more shareholders complaining) has barely fallen.

In the past 12 months, 57 FTSElisted companies were subjected to a revolt, compared with 60 in the same period up to June 2018.

Earlier this month, 42 per cent of shareholders at GVC Holdings, which owns Ladbrokes and Coral, voted against chief executive Kenny Alexander’s £19.1million package. His last-minute offer of a £150,000 pay cut failed to impress.

The revolt meant GVC joined five other companies – Premier Oil, Safestore, Playtech, Clarkson and Centamin – in having faced pay rebellions three years in a row.

More than 100 FTSE firms have faced a revolt over the two-year period. Richard Bernstein at activist investor Crystal Amber said: ‘It’s about time so-called captains of industry were a bit less focused on self-enrichment. Rewarding boards for mediocrity or failure is unacceptable.’

Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: ‘The fat cattery of large corporations never fails to astound. We want large firms to be trusted again. But that can only happen when the privileged few stop lining their pockets.’

Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe faces the wrath of shareholders this week over his £3.9million pay. Profits have dived and the company’s share price has hit a 30year low following the collapse of the supermarket group’s proposed merger with Asda. He has also been criticised for watering down pay contracts for long-serving staff.

Shareholder advisory body Pirc branded Coupe’s pay ‘excessive’.

Gary Carter, of the GMB union, said: ‘Mr Coupe’s multi-millionpound pay packet is outrageous, particularly against the backdrop of a failed merger and plummeting share price while staff are facing cuts to their terms and conditions.’

Morrisons boss Dave Potts last month handed back £600,000 in bonuses, saying the chain could have done better.

Andrew Ninian, the Investment Association’s director of stewardship and corporate governance, said the Public Register was a ‘valuable tool to hold companies to account’ and firms are now reacting more readily to revolts.

He added: ‘Since it was introduced we have seen a dramatic improvement in companies acknowledging shareholder dissent and committing to respond to it.’