While BP’s pay policy defeat was welcome, don’t take it as a sign that a second shareholder spring is on the way
Two FTSE 100 companies, including BP, one the biggest of the bunch, were defeated on votes on boardroom pay last week. It doesn’t happen often, and the 59% revolt at BP was stunning. The company had followed its established pay formula, shown its workings and pleaded its case to normally timorous fund managers. Yet the majority of shareholders took a simple view: you’ve got to be kidding if you think £14m for chief executive Bob Dudley is fair.
A string of other companies with annual meetings in coming weeks will now be nervous. All will have expected healthy majorities but, after BP, confidence will be dented. A defeat or two in the following list is suddenly possible: WPP, which is a serial offender in the eyes of some shareholders; miner Anglo American; Dettol-to-Nurofen group Reckitt Benckiser; and pharmaceuticals firm Shire.