despite loss, asciano board wants pay rise

http://www.theage.com.au/business/despite-loss-asciano-board-wants-pay-rise-20090921-fynz.html


'Despite loss, Asciano board wants pay rise
MATT O'SULLIVAN
September 22, 2009

FRESH from narrowly avoiding collapse, Asciano's directors are seeking a 50 per cent increase in the pool of money they can dish out to themselves.

The debt-laden ports and rail operator revealed yesterday that its board would push shareholders at its annual meeting in Melbourne on October 23 for a $500,000 increase to $1.5 million in the kitty available to be doled out to five non-executive directors.

It will also seek shareholder approval to grant up to 3.86 million share options to its managing director, Mark Rowsthorn.

The company argued that a $1 million fee pool would ''not be sufficient to remunerate'' its board, particularly as its non-executives would increase from three to five. It said fees for non-executive directors had not increased since Asciano demerged from Toll Holdings and listed on the ASX in 2007.

Asciano's annual report, released yesterday, shows the company paid $104,905 to Marcplan Charter for the use of a corporate jet. Mr Rowsthorn is a director and majority shareholder of Marcplan.

It emerged several weeks ago that Asciano had paid Mr Rowsthorn a cash bonus of almost $742,000 and farewelled another executive with a $2.16 million golden handshake, in a year when its full-year loss widened to $244 million.

Mr Rowsthorn was paid a total of $2.7 million for the year.

Asciano bore the brunt of a shareholder backlash last year when 32 per cent of votes were cast against its remuneration report.

Since listing, it has made some blunders, including an ill-fated bid for Brambles that cost more than $100 million.'



I believe the 50% increase for the fees is fair enough. A few extra heads now in the mix means they will need a little more to share around as incentive to exceed all goals.

But screw Rowsthorn.