Fresh from apparent triumph in a takeover battle, Sir Martin Sorrell yesterday felt the sting of chastisement as nearly half of WPP Group shareholders withheld approval from the advertising firm's remuneration report. More than 46 per cent of votes cast by proxy opposed it or abstained.
The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said the vote was the most significant since GlaxoSmithKline shareholders rejected a package that included a generous potential severance package for chief executive Mr Jean-Pierre Garnier.
"We don't see that the company can ignore this," said the NAPF.
Of proxy votes cast, 387 million supported the report, 253.27 million opposed it and 85.7 million abstained. The Association of British Insurers, which had attached its "red top" highest level of concern to WPP, said that, even though Sir Martin was highly admired, "a three-year contract is a precedent that people find hard to accept".
Sir Martin was paid nearly £1.6 million sterling (€2.3 million) in 2002, including a £731,000 bonus, which he took in the form of a restricted share award.
Pirc, the corporate governance adviser, has estimated that Sir Martin's total package is worth a potential £65 million at WPP's current share price. - (Financial Times Service)
