Over a third of WPP investors that voted failed to back the company’s pay report while 66.55% supported it. If Britain was to leave the European Union that would have a serious impact on our markets.
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WPP’s vote had been highly anticipated, coming amid increasing tension once more between investors and boards over pay.
WPP chairman Roberto Quarta asked if Britain was “sleepwalking into a black hole”, given recent poll results showing gains for the Brexit campaign.
In defence of the 2015 pay package, WPP has noted that the company’s share price rose by 98 percent between 2011 and 2015, while the FTSE 100 was up 5.8 percent in the same period.
The WPP vote comes amid a resurgence in investor activism, with BP shareholders voting in April against Chief Executive Bob Dudley’s $20 million pay deal for 2015 after the company made a record annual loss.
APP said 65.8% of investors voted for the remuneration deal, including abstentions, in a vote that was non-binding.
The bulk of Mr. Sorrell’s 2015 compensation came from a hefty long-term incentive stock award valued at GBP62.8 million, according to the ad holding company’s annual report.
WPP, the world’s biggest advertising group, reported £4.2bn in sales for the first four months of the year, an 11pc rise.
Speaking earlier this year, the WPP boss said he would make no apology for his pay on the grounds that it was “geared to the success of the company”.
But Sir Martin insisted he reinvests his pay into shares in the company.
Sir Martin keep his £70.4 million pay package, including a £62.8 million long term bonus. “I think that is something that is forgotten often”.
Roger Jeary at ShareAction claimed Sir Martin’s pay deal was almost 200 times the average WPP employee’s earnings.
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Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which represents approximately 20% of United Kingdom stock market investors, had recommended approving WPP’s remuneration report while another voting advisory service, PIRC, had urged investors to oppose it on the basis that Sir Martin’s pay was “excessive”. “And of course, a large number of other people – because I’m not the only one involved in these plans – and every time we do badly, we all suffer”, he added.
