Backlash over £175m Boohoo pay plan

BOOHOO has suffered a bloody nose over a controversial plan to hand bosses £175m if its share price improves.

The struggling fast fashion firm’s ‘growth share plan’ infuriated investors, with almost four in ten voting to reject it yesterday. Despite the backlash, Boohoo will go ahead with the scheme, the third bonus plan for top brass to be rolled out in four years. Two previous plans flopped after the company’s share price tumbled, meaning lofty targets were missed. The latest scheme could hand Boohoo boss John Lyttle £50m, finance boss Shaun McCabe £25m and co-founder Carol Kane ( pictured) £20m.

Samir Kamani, who runs the firm’s Boohoo Man brand and is the youngest son of Kane’s co-founder Mahmud Kamani, could receive £12.5m. The rest of the £175m pot would go to staff across the business.

But to unlock the huge payouts, bosses will have to bring Boohoo’s share price back from historic lows and hit a series of targets over the next five years.

The final target that would see all £175m paid is for Boohoo’s value – currently around £690m – to top £5bn for a period of more than 90 days.

Kamani, Boohoo’s executive chairman, ‘wholeheartedly’ endorsed the plan despite the backlash. And chairman Iain McDonald said that it would ‘resolutely align’ the interests of bosses with shareholders.

But Luke Hildyard, from the High Pay Centre, said the potential payouts under the scheme were ‘gratuitous’. He said the vote against the bonus by so many independent shareholders ‘is conclusive proof of the excess’. Boohoo shares fell 1.3pc, or 0,74p, to 54.6p yesterday.