Wetherspoon boss to face shareholders

Jdwetherspoon chairmantim Martin will come face to face with critical shareholders for the first time after launching a scathing attack on them, at its annual meeting on Thursday.

The pub giant also faces an investor rebellion after shareholder advisory service PIRC recommended that they vote Martin off the board, as they do not believe he is sufficiently independent enough to oversee management.

Last week Martin attacked two of its biggest shareholders, Blackrock and Columbia Threadneedle for refusing to support the re-election of long-serving directors last year. They refused to back the Wetherspoons directors as they breached City rules which state non-executive directors should quit after nine years.

As a part of a 2,300-plus word attack, he called Blackrock and

Threadneedle “hypocrites” for not adopting the same corporate governance practices they demand of the firms they invest in. In his attack on City corporate governance rules, Martin criticised PIRC and its founder Alan Macdougall, who he said has “questionable personal judgment”.

Aside from urging Wetherspoon investors to oppose Martin’s reelection to the board, PIRC says they should also rebel against its executive pay practices by withholding their support for its remuneration report. It says it is “inappropriate” that chief executive John Hutson is paid 33 times that of an average employee.

Martin founded the chain in London in 1979 with a single pub and it has since grown to 879 across the country.