directors intended pay rise

November 09, 2009 11:00am
SHAREHOLDERS in nickel miner Western Areas have voted against the adoption of the company's remuneration report.

It highlighted investors' heightened sensitivity to executive pay in the wake of the global financial crisis.

This year's round of annual general meetings has featured a number of protest votes against companies' remuneration reports as investors who have seen the value of their investments tumble refuse to tick off on executive pay packets.

Western Areas' AGM results, issued today, showed 52.5 per cent of proxy votes were cast against the resolution of the remuneration report, with 40.6 per cent voting for the motion and a further 4.4 per cent to be cast at the board's discretion.

Votes to approve remuneration reports are non-binding, but the vote against is still embarrassing for the Perth-based miner.

Western Areas' shares have actually recovered about 21 per cent over the past 12 months to be at $4.86 in intraday trade, but this is still a long way shy of highs above $11.50 reached in May of 2008, before collapsing demand hurt nickel prices.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,26324749-5017962,00.html