Pension association opposes directors’ pay at Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s
shareholders have been urged by the National Association of Pension Funds
(NAPF) to vote against directors’ pay at next week’s annual meeting. 

The
move follows Sainsbury’s failure to exclude the pay of Peter Davis from the
remuneration report, which shareholders are due to vote on on Monday. 

Davis
was ousted from his role as chairman of the struggling supermarket last week,
following his award of an 86 per cent performance-related bonus in a year when
profits and shareholder returns fell significantly.

The
NAPF, which represents more than 1,000 pension schemes controlling £650bn of UK
assets, said the award was a "fundamental example of a breakdown in good
corporate governance and good relations with shareholders".

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The
association said: "The company, and specifically the remuneration
committee, has been remiss in approving [this award]… The board stated that
it retained the right to upgrade or downgrade the award in light of Sainsbury’s
performance against its peers. They have categorically failed to do this."

By Daniel Thomas