Oil and gas company Melrose Resources suffered a backlash over bosses’ pay at its annual meeting yesterday.
The Edinburgh firm’s latest remuneration report was rejected by more than 10% of the total of shareholder votes cast in the latest sign of unrest among investors in UK-listed companies. A spokesman for Melrose, whose core assets are in north Africa and eastern Europe, said: “Melrose’s remuneration committee consists of three independent directors. They take advice from external consultants who benchmark executive directors’ remuneration against Melrose’s peer group.”
In a report ahead of the AGM, corporate governance specialist Manifest said Melrose’s maximum pay awards were well above the level it would expect to see and a £402,000 salary for chief executive David Thomas seemed “potentially excessive”.