Shareholders in fintech firm Plus500 have revolted against the multi-million pound paypacket of its two bosses today in the first major rebellion of a fractious AGM season marked by resistance over executive pay.
At its annual general meeting, some 65 per cent of investors in the London-listed Israeli trading platform voted against last year’s remuneration package for chief executive David Zruia and finance boss Elad Even-Chen.
Plus500 has revealed it paid Zruia and Even-Chen $3.7m each last year.
The resistance follows a similar backlash in 2023 in which investors rejected the pay report for the previous year. In their recommendations to shareholders ahead of the AGM this year, both ISS and Glass Lewis said the company’s response to the rebellion over pay last year had not been rigorous enough.
“There remains significant scope for more robust disclosures” about pay, ISS said.
Plus500 stressed today the vote was “advisory” and said it would now engage with investors to determine a route forward.
“[The board] takes the outcome of shareholder votes extremely seriously and will engage with shareholders and shareholder advisory bodies to ensure their feedback continues to inform the company’s approach to governance and remuneration taking into account the specific needs and profile of the Company,” Plus500 said.
Under the UK Corporate Governance Code, Plus500 now has to publish the outcome of its engagement with shareholders in the next six months.
Shares in the fintech firm, which floated in London in 2013, have climbed some 43 per cent over the past year, with the company currently worth around $1.73bn. Plus500 has been a beneficiary of the boom in retail trading over the past four years and its user base has swelled on the back of a push into the US.
However, it is among scores of companies to now face resistance over pay from the two top shareholder advisory firms, ISS and Glass Lewis. The resistance has caused a backlash in the City and triggered a major debate over compensation for UK-based executives.
Some firms in London argue that they face an uphill battle recruiting executives due to the hefty salaries made in the US, which often dwarf those paid to UK executives.
The scale of the rebellion at Plus500 is likely to crystallise the concerns among City figures that uncompetitive pay-packets are damaging the ability of London to recruit.
Zruia has already voiced his anger at London as a public market, claiming his company could fetch a higher valuation listed in New York.
Astrazeneca and Smith & Nephew are among the other London-listed companies to face resistance from proxy groups and shareholders over the pay of executives, though both saw resistance come in well below 50 per cent of votes.
The pay of top bosses has been climbing in recent years despite pushback from some proxy groups.
FTSE 100 chiefs made an average of £4.4m in 2022, up 16 per cent on the previous year, according to the thinktank, the High Pay Centre.
Bosses at S&P 500 US companies meanwhile are paid an average of $16.7m (£13.1m), three times the UK, according to the US trade unions federation AFL-CIO, reported by the Guardian.