Punch shareholders revolt over executive pay

Shareholders in Punch Taverns revolted yesterday over executive pay — voting against the pubco's remuneration policies.

At Punch's annual general meeting yesterday, more than 55% of votes cast went against the motion to approve directors' pay.

The main issues for shareholders related to the long-term incentive paln worth up to 200% of salary, pension increases, the 11% bonus award and compensation to departing executives.

Some 36% of shareholders voted against the resolution last year and Punch now plans "a full review of the remuneration policy and its future implementation".

A statement from the firm read: "The policy of the Remuneration Committee is to ensure that remuneration is competitive, provides sufficient incentive to retain talented executives, rewards long term performance and at the same time is aligned with shareholders' interests.

"The remuneration committee will consider the feedback received from shareholders and will consult further with its major shareholders as part of the review."

This year the shareholders dividend was suspended and the group's pre-tax loss stood at £406m.