Wetherspoons shareholders back Tim Martin after corporate governance row
Outspoken JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin has emerged victorious from his clash with a proxy adviser after shareholders voted overwhelmingly in his support.
More than 98 per cent of investors voted to re-elect Martin, who founded the company in 1979, as executive chairman at the budget pub chain’s annual general meeting today.
Read more: Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin launches attack on corporate governance
Martin was last week locked in a bitter war of words after proxy adviser Pirc criticised the boozer boss’s pro-Brexit spending, which included £94,856 on almost 2m Vote Leave beer mats.
Pirc also advised shareholders to remove Martin from the board due to his lengthy tenure at the helm. The boss has held the role of executive chairman since 1983, in contravention of corporate governance guidelines.
Martin last week lashed out at Pirc’s advice, branding it “toxic”, while also labelling major shareholders Columbia Threadneedle and Blackrock “hypocrites” for their votes against the re-election of long-serving directors last year.
But the row appeared to have little bearing on loyal Wetherspoon shareholders, who today passed all resolutions. However, directors Debra van Gene and Sir Richard Beckett were given a bloody nose, as just over 12 per cent of investors voted against their re-election.
The vote will restore some order in the City after Martin launched an unprecedented attack on corporate governance.
The beer baron, who is known for using his firm’s trading updates to air his views, sparked outrage when he claimed that “no sensible business” would float on the London stock market due to what he considers to be flaws in corporate governance codes.
“Who wants to guarantee eventual destruction, after all?” he added.
Read more: Wetherspoons faces backlash over Brexit campaign spending
The comments came as Wetherspoon posted a 5.3 per cent increase in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 27 October.
Paul Ruddy, leisure analyst at Goodbody, said the update marked “another strong set of results” for the firm, adding that it was outperforming others in the sector.