Almost half of UBM shareholders refuse to back director pay

A third of UBM shareholders have voted against plans for executive pay at the firm, making it the latest in a growing list of big firms to suffer backlashes against their remuneration reports.

At the global media company's annual general meeting 36% of shareholders, representing 55.5m shares, voted against the pay deal.

In a further blow to the company, voters representing a further 33.3m of share were withheld.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

This compared with 97m votes cast in support of the remuneration report, meaning 48% of shareholders refused to back it.

The company joins a growing number of firms where shareholders have flexed their muscles.

At Pendragon's AGM last week, 67% of shareholders who voted were against the remuneration report.

It was a close run thing at Trinity Mirror where 45.89% voted against the pay deal.

These votes came hot on the heals of Aviva losing the vote, leading to its chief executive resigning.

This, in turn, came shortly after a sizeable chunk of Barclay's owners voting against its remuneration report.