There was much huffing, and a 35% rebellion by shareholders, when AstraZeneca proposed a pay packet for its chief executive, Pascal Soriot, of £18.7m if the company hits its performance targets. The case for the defence was that the pharma firm is a very large company – the biggest in the FTSE 100 index – and has to compete for executives in the US, land of the over-remunerated.
Whether or not you’re convinced by the argument, it feels odd that £8.2m last year for Chris O’Shea, boss of Centrica, owner of British Gas, looks likely to fly through with minimal fuss at Wednesday’s annual meeting. Both the main proxy voting agencies are recommending a thumbs up, and they tend to set the mood.
