WH Smith has been hit by a massive shareholder rebellion, with more than half its investors failing to back payment of a £550,000 bonus to the retailer’s chief executive after it benefited from tens of millions of pounds in pandemic relief.
In the group’s second bloody nose from investors in two years, just over 53% registered their dissent on the remuneration report including those voting against and those withholding their votes. Just over 45% of votes cast were against the retailer’s plans at the annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday.
