LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - A leading advisor toinstitutional investors has said it backs 'oppose' votes on payand other issues at leading UK retailers Sports Direct,Marks & Spencer and J Sainsbury.
Pensions and Investment Research Consultants (PIRC), whichadvises investors with more than 1.5 trillion pounds ininvestments, is just the latest group to oppose a planned sharebonus scheme at Sports Direct.
PIRC said while there were some positive elements of theplanned scheme, it was concerned that the failure to include anindividual limit on the scale of the potential award under thescheme could lead to it being excessive.
At Marks & Spencer, PIRC said it backed an 'oppose' vote onthe company's executive pay plans. Among its reasons were thatthe long-term incentive plans put forward by the company werenot sufficiently long-term in nature.
It also called for an 'oppose' vote at food retailerSainsbury as, among other reasons, it considered the maximumpotential payout to the company's chief executive to beexcessive.
"The ratio of CEO pay compared to average employee pay isconsidered particularly high has been estimated by PIRC atapproximately 136:1," it said in a statement. (Reporting by Simon Jessop; editing by Steve Slater)