Three CEOs making serious money have salaries put to the vote

UK wages are rising fast and these wealthy chief executives are earning more than ever. Find out who they are and what the experts say about pay.

Running MITIE Group (LSE:MTO) netted £5.85 million for its boss in the last financial year, a figure that would have been even higher had the company not applied downward discretion.

A surge in the value of Mitie shares contributed to former British Gas boss Phil Bentley getting an estimated £3.9 million from the vesting of long-term incentives in 2022/23.

This was after the company’s pay committee applied discretion of 10% to account for potential windfall gains on the shares granted in 2020. It also lowered the annual bonus by 20% to £838,000 in order to consider the wider stakeholder experience.

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The single remuneration figure, which includes shares that are subject to a holding period, is the highest received by Bentley since he took on the leadership role in 2016.

Mitie’s AGM takes place on 25 July, with advisory firm Glass Lewis recommending that shareholders vote in favour of the annual remuneration report.

Tate & Lyle

When: 10.30am, Thursday 27 July.

Where: Thistle London Marble Arch, Bryanston Street, London, W1H 7EH.

How to participate: The deadline for proxy voting instructions is 10.30am, Tuesday 25 July. More details about Tate & Lyle (LSE:TATE)'s AGM can be found here.

Who’s in the chair? Gerry Murphy is due to step down in September after more than six years in the role. His departure was announced on 1 July following his appointment as chair of Tesco. Paul Forman, senior independent director, is leading the search for a successor and has deferred his retirement from the board until the process is complete.

How did the company do in the year to 31 March? Revenues of £1.7 billion were 18% higher on an adjusted basis, driven by the passing through of inflation and changes to the product mix. Adjusted earnings were 22% higher at £320 million, with earnings per share up 10% to 49.3p. A final dividend of 13.1p a share is due to be paid on 2 August, representing an increase of 2.5% on a year earlier and bringing the total to 18.5p.

How have shares performed? Down 8% at 784.6p (733p on Thursday).

How much is the boss paid? Nick Hampton’s base salary increased by 1.5% in April, taking the figure to £723,000. Total remuneration for 2022/23 amounted to £3.37 million, the highest figure since his appointment in April 2018. This included cash and deferred shares worth £1.03 million after the annual bonus scheme paid 96% of the maximum. The 69.5% vesting of long-term incentive shares granted in 2020 added £1.5 million to the final figure.

What’s in the new remuneration policy? No changes are planned to the policy approved at the 2020 AGM with 97.24% of votes in favour.

How did last year’s AGM go? The annual remuneration report was backed with 94.33% of votes in support.

What’s the view of voting agencies? Glass Lewis recommends shareholders support the annual remuneration report and the binding vote on the new three-year remuneration policy.

How’s the company doing on diversity? The board is 45% women and 18% from Black, Asian or non-white ethnically diverse groups.

Mitie

When: 11.30am, Tuesday 25 July.

Where: Level 12, The Shard, 32 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9SG.

How to participate: A live webcast of the meeting will be available. Questions in advance of the AGM should be sent to investorrelations@mitie.com and proxy voting instructions returned no later than 11.30am, Friday 21 July. More AGM details can be found here.

Who’s in the chair? Derek Mapp, who was appointed in May 2017, is the former chief executive of Tom Cobleigh and chair of Informa.

How did the company do in the year to 31 March? Revenues at the facilities manager topped £4 billion for the first time as business wins and renewals, acquisitions and contract repricing more than offset the prior year benefit from short-term Covid work. Underlying profits rose £6 million to £151 million and basic earnings per share by 3.3% to 9.5p, with the latter figure benefiting from the refinancing of debt and share buybacks. A final dividend of 2.2p per share is due to be paid on 4 August, resulting in a 61% increase in the total to 2.9p.

How have shares performed? Up 47% at 81.8p (99.9p on Thursday).

How much is the boss paid? The £900,000 salary of former British Gas boss Phil Bentley has not changed since his appointment in December 2016. His single remuneration figure for the year amounted to £5.85 million, fuelled by the rise in value of long-term incentives since their grant in 2020 at a share price of 34.1p. These awards vested at 100% based on the metrics of earnings per share and cash conversion, but the remuneration committee used downward discretion of 10% to factor in the potential for windfall gains.

As well as the estimated £3.9 million from long-term incentives, Bentley got cash and deferred shares worth £838,000 as the annual bonus scheme paid 58.2% of the maximum. This had been 78.2% but was also subject to downward discretion after the remuneration committee said it considered the experience of all stakeholders. Bentley held 10.9 million Mitie shares at the end of March, equivalent to more than 700% of his salary.

How much is the chief financial officer paid? Simon Kirkpatrick, who was appointed in April 2021, is on a base salary of £400,000 after a 5.8% rise in April. Mitie’s remuneration committee said this is towards the lower end of typical FTSE 250 salary levels for a finance boss and is 7% below the previous non-interim incumbent. 

How did last year’s AGM go? The annual remuneration report was backed with 82% of votes in favour. The previous year’s vote on the three-year remuneration policy got 70.1%.

What’s the view of voting agencies? Glass Lewis welcomes the company’s use of discretion to ensure alignment with the wider stakeholder experience, although it believes that shareholders could reasonably have expected greater disclosure surrounding the specific factors taken into account when determining final payouts. Despite this, it recommends that shareholders vote in favour of the annual remuneration report. 

How’s the company doing on diversity? The board is 37.5% female, with two directors from a minority ethnic background.

B&M European Value Retail

When: 12 noon Central European Time (CET), Tuesday 25 July.

Where: Sofitel Grand-Ducal, 35, Rue du Laboratoire, L-1911 Luxembourg.

How to participate:B&M European Value Retail SA (LSE:BME)'s meeting is being held in Luxembourg in accordance with the company’s constitution. Proxy voting instructions should be returned by 12 noon CET, Friday 21 July. More AGM details can be found here.

Who’s in the chair? Former Vodafone executive Peter Bamford was appointed in March 2018. 

How did the company do in the year to 25 March? Revenues of £4.98 billion were 30.7% ahead of pre-pandemic 2020 levels on a constant currency basis. Adjusted profits came in 12.6% lower than a year ago at £459 million, with earnings per share down 12.3% at 36.5p. A final dividend of 9.6p will be paid on 4 August, bringing the total to the upper end of the company’s policy at 14.6p a share. It also paid a special dividend of 20p a share in February.

How have shares performed? Down 17% at 464.9p (545.6p on Thursday).

How much is the boss paid? The salary of former finance boss Alex Russo, who became chief executive in September, is £832,000 after a 4% pay rise in April. His total remuneration for 2022/23 amounted to £1.6 million, which included cash and shares worth £556,640 as the annual bonus scheme paid 56.9% of the maximum opportunity.

How much did the former CEO get? Simon Arora received £1.7 million from long-term incentives granted in 2020. These vested at 100% of the maximum based on adjusted earnings per share and total shareholder return performance relative to FTSE 350 retailers. An annual bonus of £830,261 took his overall remuneration for the year to £3.46 million.

How did last year’s AGM go? The annual remuneration report got 94.30% support. At the 2021 AGM, 81.46% of votes were cast in favour of the three-year remuneration policy.

What’s the view of voting agencies? Glass Lewis recommends shareholders vote in favour of the annual remuneration report.

How’s the company doing on diversity? There is no director from an ethnic minority and the combination of director changes means the company will not meet the requirement for 40% of the board to be female in the immediate future. There are currently three female directors on the nine-strong board. The company plans to appoint at least one non-executive director and ensure full compliance by the time Ron McMillan steps down from the board at the AGM in 2024. It added: “Recruitment processes are underway to address these issues.”