Investors in telecommunications giant FTSE100 Vodafone are urged to vote against its chief executive’s salary at annual meeting
Investors in telecommunications giant FTSE100 Vodafone have been asked to vote against its chief executive’s salary at this week’s annual meeting.
Nick Read received £4.1m, up from £3.5m a year earlier. His annual salary was increased by a bonus of £1.45 million and shares worth £1.5 million.
Shareholder adviser PIRC said the rewards program was “not acceptable” and urged investors to vote against the company’s pay policy.
Tough talk: Shareholder adviser PIRC said the rewards program was ‘not acceptable’ and urged investors to vote against the company’s pay policy
He said Read’s compensation over the past five years has not been aligned with shareholder returns after the stock price fell 45% during the period.
Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Center, said the package was “very difficult” to justify. Read is under pressure to improve Vodafone’s share price after Europe’s biggest activist investor, Cevian Capital, took a stake in the group earlier this year.
Two institutional shareholder advisers, ISS and Glass Lewis, recommended investors vote in favor of Read’s salary.
Vodafone said: “Last year’s compensation report was approved by almost 98% of shareholders. We are confident that at our AGM on Tuesday we will see similar levels of support.
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