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FirstGroup fights off rebellion on pay for executives

Fri, 2010-07-09

The Herald

Bus and train operator FirstGroup has faced down a shareholder rebellion over executive pay at the company’s annual general meeting in Aberdeen.

The Scottish-based group said 293,100,991 votes favoured the directors’ remuneration report – 96.32% – while only 11,190,18, or 3.68%, were against. More than 3.2 million votes were abstentions.

Pension fund advisory group Pirc urged investors to vote against the transport group’s executive pay policy at the meeting.

Pirc raised the alarm over bonus pay to finance director Jeff Carr and marketing director Ellis Watson.

The pair joined last year and were given £314,000 and £250,000 respectively, as compensation for the bonuses they gave up at their previous employer: Watson has since left.

Shareholders also voted overwhelmingly to re-elect Sir Moir Lockhead, FirstGroup’s chief executive and deputy chairman, as a director of the company. Several other directors were also re-elected with big majorities.