A Spring is in the air this May – Shareholder revolt set to build with Aviva and Reckitt Benckiser meetings

By:

Add as a preferred source on Google

Company bosses are braced for further uprisings this week.

Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, insurance giant Aviva, and FTSE 250 hedge fund Man Group all host shareholders for their annual general meetings.

Last week the shareholder spring picked up pace as investors voted against boardroom pay rewards for engineering firm Weir Group and Shire, the FTSE 100 pharmaceutical group.

Investors will now be scrutinising the £23m pay deal Reckitt Benckiser chief executive Rakesh Kapoor, while Man Group awarded chief executive Manny Roman a 10 per cent salary rise for 2016.

Read more: Watch out, Martin Sorrell: Exec pay is top issue for investors

This year is so far on course to best even the so-called shareholder spring of 2012, which rattled boardrooms for the first time since May 2003.

Weir and Shire joined the list of shareholder uprisings this year, which already included oil giant BP, miner Anglo American, energy firm Centrica, and financial behemoth Citigroup.

Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland will also brave shareholder votes this week, along with drug giant GlaxoSmithKline.

Royal London Asset Management has already revealed that it will be voting down the annual remuneration report at Standard Chartered's AGM on Wednesday, although it will be giving its approval to the binding pay policy.

Read more: Not so much revolution as boardroom evolution

Royal London has also said it will vote against the remuneration report at Reckitt Benckiser, which will be hosting its AGM the next day. 

However the asset manager has said it will be vote in favour of the remuneration report at Aviva.

On Friday shareholders waved through controversial pay deals for Credit Suisse's top team despite protests.

In the coming weeks BP rival Shell and advertising giant WPP will also face the music.

WPP announced last month that chief executive Martin Sorrell took home £70.4m in 2015, sparking criticism over the size of his package.