Shareholders in agricultural and engineering firm Carr's Group have staged a revolt over how much top executive receive in bonuses.
The Carlisle-headquartered group held a general meeting earlier today (May 2) where over 23% of voting shareholders refused to back the group's remuneration report.
Ahead of the meeting, the group had told shareholders that the board "considers that appropriate executive remuneration plays a vital part in helping to achieve the company’s overall objectives".
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In response to the vote, which was passed by the requisite majority, Carr's said the company "will engage with shareholders to fully understand the reasons for this and provide an update within six months".
The group also noted that only 42.75% of its shareholders voted at the general meeting.
The meeting came after the group posted a revenue of £79.7m for the six months to March 4 this year, up from £64.5m. However, its pre-tax profits were cut from £7.7m to £4.9m.
The remuneration policy for Carr's Group, which was founded in 1831, in 2022/23 was that the maximum annual bonus for executive directors would be 100% of their salaries.
At the end of last year, JD Sports avoided a potential revolt over executive pay after its shareholders overwhelmingly backed its new proposals.
The Greater Manchester-headquartered retail giant had been criticised by investors in July after it was revealed former boss Peter Cowgill had been paid almost £6m in bonuses since February 2021.
The awards were made despite the listed group receiving more than £100m in government support during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Remuneration Committee chair Andrew Leslie was replaced by Suzi Williams in September after 11 years on the board after he failed to win enough votes from independent shareholders for re-election at the company’s annual meeting in July.
At the time, JD Sports acknowledged "the lower levels of support" for its remuneration report, which set out what executives were to be paid for 2020.
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