Gambling company GVC (LON: GVC) is facing a shareholder rebellion following the £67 million paid to its two bosses.
The owner of Foxy Bingo and Ladbrokes Coral has awarded its chief executive £45 million in share option since 2016. The chairman has gained £22.5 million.
Pirc and Glass Lewis, shareholder bodies, are advising shareholders to vote against the “excessively disproportionate” pay to bosses Kenny Alexander and Larry Feldman.
“Clearly they’ve completely disregarded the strong vote against last year and are continuing with a similar approach to pay. You’d hope that there will be an even stronger vote against this year,” said Luke Hildyard, a director of the remuneration thinktank the High Pay Centre.
“This case demonstrates that even when shareholders do oppose egregious awards, which doesn’t happen often enough, the company doesn’t have to do anything about it.”
The high payments in share options paid to Alexander and Feldman is about 550 times that paid to average employees.
Shares in GVC reached a record high of £10.15 last week.
Similar huge pay deals to company bosses have sparked anger this past year. The chief executive of housebuilder Persimmon, Jeff Fairburn, returned over £25 million of his £100 million-plus bonus after anger and protest.
