LONDON (Alliance News) - Centrica PLC said a third of it shareholders voted against a new pay deal for new Chief Executive Iain Conn, who joined the company in January from fellow FTSE 100 giant BP PLC. However, the package was approved the utility's annual general meeting Monday.
Conn joined Centrica after former CEO, Sam Laidlaw, retired after holding the reigns at the company for over six years.
When Conn joined, the company said it planned to pay him a GBP925,000 base salary and a share incentive opportunity equal to his salary, which will vest in April 2016 depending on performance. Conn also was given a longer-term share incentive award double the base salary that will vest in April 2017 and be released a year after that depending on performance.
Laidlaw had a base salary of GBP950,000, plus incentives.
According to the Guardian newspaper, Conn's pay packet could be worth up to a total of GBP3.7 million in his first year in the role, which it said was less than Laidlaw's total pay packet might have been in 2015. Laidlaw received around GBP1.4 million in 2013.
Shareholders representing 67.26% of Centrica shares approved the director's remuneration report, with 33.10% voting against it and the balance withholding their votes. There was very little resistance in electing Conn, with 99.94% of shareholders voting in favour and only 0.06% voting against him.
However, when Conn was appointed, the company also said it was reviewing a "new, simpler incentive arrangement for all executive directors" to be approved at the AGM on Monday, which seems to have passed as no resolutions were rejected.
Centrica shares were up 1.2% to 272.40 pence per share on Tuesday afternoon.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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