Boss of BA owner hit by fat cat pay revolt

JUST over a quarter of shareholders in British Airways’ parent company have refused to back a plan to boost chief executive Luis Gallego’s rewards.

IAG faced a rebellion at its shareholder meeting yesterday in Madrid with 17.78pc of investors voting against a controversial pay policy and 7.75pc abstaining.

Gallego’s package puts him in line for £4.7m if he hits all his targets in 2022.

The AGM took place after weeks of recent travel chaos caused by the mass cancellation of flights, which has hit IAG’s airlines including, BA, Vueling and Iberia.

Several investment advisers had urged investors to reject IAG’s proposal, with Glass Lewis and ISS describing it as ‘excessive’.

The proposal passed with 75pc of votes but Sarah Wilson, boss of data firm Minerva Analytics, said: ‘The average dissent on remuneration for companies is about 10pc. A quarter of shareholders thinking you are not doing a very good job is a lot.’

An IAG spokesman said: ‘We are pleased with the support received from our shareholders.’

Two other firms also suffered at the hands of shareholders yesterday. Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital suffered a rebellion where 30pc of the advertising start-up’s investors voted against the pay policy.

And Informa suffered one of the largest shareholder protests at a top UK company in more than a decade, after 71pc of the exhibitions organiser’s investors rebelled against chief executive Lord Carter’s £2.7m pay at its annual meeting.