BP boss takes a 40pc pay cut after revolt

BP CHIEF executive Bob Dudley had his pay cut by 40pc as the oil major seeks to stave off another shareholder revolt.

The 61-year-old was paid £9.3m in 2016 – nearly £5m less than his bumper pay package for 2015 that was voted down by investors.

More than £1.7m of the cut was due to the remuneration committee’s discretion, while the rest was fixed in line with pay policies.

Committee chair Dame Ann Dowling said: ‘I have consulted widely with shareholders and listened to and sought to act on their concerns.’

Investors called for Dame Ann to be sacked in 2015 in fury at the £13.9m pay handed to Dudley when the company had made a £4.2bn loss.

But BP is now also planning on cutting his maximum potential pay by nearly £3m, in a new policy due to be put to shareholders in May.

If approved, the chief executive’s maximum long-term incentives pay-out will be cut to five times salary from seven times, and other bonus payments by a quarter.

Targets will be raised while share awards will also partly be tagged to the company’s progress towards meeting the expected growing demand for lower-carbon fuels.

Chief financial officer Brian Gilvary’s total pay this year also dropped, from £5m to £4.2m. Ashley Hamilton Claxton, the corporate governance manager at Royal London Asset Management said: ‘We applaud the BP remuneration committee for being proactive in responding to the shareholder revolt last year and see this as a milestone in the engagement between companies and shareholders.’

BP posted a net profit for 2016 of £2.3bn and pledged to keep its vital dividend the same, at 10 US cents per share.