Another day, another pay revolt
By Lucy Battersby and Eric Johnston | smh.com.au | 26 October
Shareolders have launched a stinging protest vote against excessive pay packages just weeks into this year's annual general meeting season, angered by easy bonuses and weak incentive programs.
Transurban unit holders delivered a protest vote against the company's executive remuneration report yesterday, with 67 per cent of proxy votes and 41 per cent of all votes going against this year's report.
Of particular concern to unit holders were new chief financial officer Tom Honan's $1 million sign-on bonus, chief executive Chris Lynch's $2.8 million short-term incentive bonus, and the number of free units executives were offered without any unit holder approval.
Elsewhere, a new pay package for top executives at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank was almost voted down this week as a result of a strong protest vote by investors.
The Qantas board saw 42 per cent of shareholder votes go against the executive remuneration report for the second year in a row, at the airline's annual meeting last week. A strong vote against Crown's remuneration report is expected at today's AGM in Melbourne.
Armed with the Productivity Commission's review of executive pay, shareholders and unit holders have been demanding better standards at recent AGMs.
The shareholder proxy adviser RiskMetrics Group recommended its clients vote against Transurban on the grounds that performance hurdles were too low.
It is the second year in a row that a significant number of Transurban votes were cast against the remuneration report.
The managing director of Bendigo community bank, Mike Hirst, stood to receive up to $5 million in long-term bonuses while Jamie McPhee, who heads up Bendigo's banking and wealth business, was in line for $2 million.
But more than 47 per cent of shareholders voted against the pay deal, according to a breakdown of votes lodged with the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday.
RiskMetrics had recommended a vote against both, given there were no performance hurdles other than continued service linked to the payment of about half the shares.
First published by Smh.com.au on October 26 2009
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