Informa shareholders revolt over CEO Carter's pension

Informa was hit by a shareholder revolt over its chief executive's pay in the second protest about outsized pension contributions at a FTSE 100 company in two days.

More than a third of the events company's shareholder votes went against Informa's remuneration report at its annual general meeting. The report proposed paying a 25% pension contribution to Stephen Carter despite governance standards saying he should be paid the same rate as the wider workforce.

Informa said it noted the 35% vote against the pay report and would consult with shareholders to deal with the questions it raised. Investors are taking a hard line on big contributions by companies into bosses' pensions as a backdoor means to pay them more.

In a change to the UK's governance code last year companies are meant to equalise the rate between senior executives and their workers. The opposition to Carter's pension payments followed a 35% vote against contributions to Morrisons' CEO and chief operating officer at the supermarket chain's AGM on Thursday.

"The board has a consistent track record of annual and detailed proactive engagement with the company's shareholders," Informa said. "This regular and annual engagement informs its approach and keeps it up to date with the latest thinking in relation to board governance."

In addition to the change in the governance code investors are taking a stern line on bosses' who do not share the pain inflicted by the Covid-19 crisis. Informa scrapped its dividend and raised £1bn from shareholders in April and said on Friday it expected revenue to fall by a third in 2020 after trade shows and other events around the world were cancelled.

Before the AGM, Informa said it had not updated its pay policy while the market was in turmoil, leaving Carter's pension contributions unchanged. ISS, a proxy adviser on governance issues, said the company had plenty of time to make changes based on the revamped governance code before the coronavirus struck.