JD Sports has avoided a potential shareholder revolt over executive pay after its shareholders overwhelmingly backed its new proposals.
A general meeting was staged earlier today after the Greater Manchester-headquartered retail giant was 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.
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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.
Towards the end of November, JD Sports published a revised directors' remuneration policy as well as a new Long Term Incentive Plan and Deferred Bonus Plan.
At the general meeting, the directors' remuneration policy was approved with 99.22% of votes, the Long-Term Incentive Plan 2022 was passed with 99.44% of votes and the Deferred Bonus Plan 2022 was passed with 99.69% of votes.
A JD Sports statement, issued to the London Stock Exchange on November 25, said: "Following the appointment of Suzi Williams as Remuneration Committee chair in September 2022, the company initiated a thorough review of its remuneration policy.
"We consulted with a wide range of investors to understand why the company's remuneration policy and reports had consistently not gained desired institutional support over a number of years.
"Reflecting on the feedback received, the committee have been considering the structure of a revised policy that brings the company in line with FTSE 100 best practice with a greater emphasis on share-based remuneration.
"Following this exercise, the Remuneration Committee has taken the decision to bring forward a revised directors' remuneration policy to a shareholder vote at the earliest opportunity.
"This will put in place a remuneration policy appropriate for the size and complexity of the business."
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