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Marks & Spencer's Pay Report Is Opposed by 8.6% of Its Voting Investors

Wed, 2010-07-14

Bloomberg

Marks & Spencer Group Plc said 8.6 percent of voting shareholders opposed its remuneration report, under which new Chief Executive Officer Marc Bolland could receive 15 million pounds ($22.9 million).

The report was approved by 91.4 percent of those that voted, the U.K.’s largest clothing retailer said at its annual general meeting at the Royal Festival Hall in London today. The figures did not include withheld votes.

Pensions & Investment Research Consultants Ltd. had called for investors to oppose the report, which it said included “highly excessive” executive pay and recruitment incentives for the CEO. The Association of British Insurers, whose members own about 15 percent of British publicly traded companies’ shares, issued an “amber top” warning to investors, urging a “considered judgement” on the report.

“We got over 90 percent of the vote, I don’t see a problem with that,” Chairman Stuart Rose said after the meeting.