Shipbroker Clarkson faces shareholder revolt over CEO pay
Shipbroker Clarkson is facing a shareholder revolt over the hefty pay packet of its chief executive Andi Case.
The FTSE 250 firm handed the shipping executive £11.9m last year, up from £10.4m, after a record financial performance.
Case, who has led the firm since 2008, is one of the most highly paid senior executives in London. According to The Sunday Times, he was paid more than the top dogs at HSBC, Shell and BP last year.
Shareholder advisory groups Pirc and Glass Lewis have urged investors to reject the businessman’s renumeration at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday. It marks the eighth consecutive revolt against the Case’s pay.
The showdown comes amid a growing row in London over executive pay.
Astrazeneca, Centrica, and the London Stock Exchange Group have all caused stirs with the remuneration resolutions for their CEOs that they have taken to their shareholders.
Many senior figures, however, argue high pay is necessary to stop top-level talent heading elsewhere.
Julia Hoggett, the head of the London Stock Exchange, said in May last year that the UK needed a “constructive discussion” to avoid bosses fleeing to New York.
Dr Tim Miller, chair of Clarkson’s remuneration committee, has previously acknowledged the pay arrangements for Case “do not accord with the norm for FTSE 250 companies.”
The policy was renewed at the firm’s AGM last year with just over 56 per cent shareholder support. “While this level of support is less than we would ideally like, the majority of our shareholders continue to support us securing the retention and incentivisation of executives who have consistently delivered exceptional returns for shareholders since 2006,” Miller wrote.
Clarkson reported record full-year profit of £109.2m in March, up 8.2 per cent on the prior year, while revenue rose to £639.4m, up from £603.8m.