Almost half of UBM shareholders refuse to back director pay

A third of UBM shareholders have voted against plans for executive pay at the firm, making it the latest in a growing list of big firms to suffer backlashes against their remuneration reports.At the global media company's annual general meeting 36% of shareholders, representing 55.5m shares, voted against the pay deal.In a further blow to the company, voters representing a 33.3m shares were withheld.This compared with 97m votes cast in support of the remuneration report, meaning 48% of shareholders refused to back it.The company joins a growing number of firms where shareholders have flexed their muscles.At Pendragon's AGM last week, 67% of shareholders who voted were against the remuneration report.It was a close run thing at newspaper outfit Trinity Mirror where 45.89% voted against the pay deal. These votes came hot on the heels of insruance titan Aviva losing the vote, leading to its chief executive resigning. This, in turn, came shortly after a sizeable chunk of Barclay's owners voting against its remuneration report. Barclays Aviva