Frasers Group at risk of shareholder revolt over CEO’s £100m bonus

// Frasers Group faces shareholder revolt over CEO’s £100m bonus
// Advisory groups Pirc and Glass Lewis have advised voting against the remuneration plan
// Michael Murray, who is the fiancé of Ashley’s daughter, will receive just over £100m when he begins his role

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group is at risk of facing shareholder revolt over new chief executive Michael Murray’s £100 million bonus.

The group is in talks with shareholders to seek approval of a £100 million bonus scheme for its incoming chief executive, and a cash bonus for its finance director despite having accepted millions of pounds in government support.

Advisory groups Pirc and Glass Lewis have advised voting against the remuneration plan, flagging “excessive payouts”.


READ MORE: Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group slammed for paying son-in-law £100m bonus


Murray, who is the fiancé of Ashley’s daughter, is set to receive just over £100 million if Frasers’ share price hits £15 for 30 consecutive trading days in the four years from October 7, up from about £7 at present.

The bonus would come on top of his base salary of £1 million a year.

Frasers Group said in August that Murray was scheduled to take over from his future father-in-law as chief executive next year.

The group’s finance director Chris Wootton would receive up to £9 million under the new share bonus scheme, which would begin to pay out if the share price hit £12 for the 30-day period.

Wootton was awarded a £100,000 cash bonus on top of his £150,000 salary in recognition of his “exceptional efforts in leading the company through a period of unprecedented challenge” during the pandemic.

His salary was raised to £250,000 in May and he can earn an annual bonus of up to £500,000 more and up to £9 million under the new long-term share bonus scheme.

Frasers said the targets of the new share bonus scheme were both “stretching and achievable”.

However, the payments come after Frasers claimed £80 million in furlough assistance and £97.5 million in business rates relief globally last year.

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