Thomas Cook narrowly avoids shareholder revolt
Thomas Cook has narrowly avoided a shareholder revolt over its decision to pay top managers bonuses that failed to take into account the £82m lost due to the ash cloud last April.
A significant minority of the Group’s shareholders opposed its decision to ignore the impact of the ash cloud when calculating share bonuses for its top executives.
However, 60% of shareholders voted in favour of the Board’s remuneration report, which awarded bonus shares to around 100 Thomas Cook managers, at today’s annual general meeting.
In a statement released to the London Stock Exchange, Cook said: "The Board is aware of the issues relating to the Group’s Performance Share Plan, raised by some shareholders and reflected in the votes cast at the AGM.
"Although over 60% of votes supported the Group’s remuneration policies and practices, the Board takes the issues raised by shareholders seriously.
"The chairman of the Remuneration Committee Peter Middleton will meet with those shareholders to listen to their concerns and to discuss with them why the Board took certain decisions."
A company spokeswoman said that about 100 members of Thomas Cook’s senior management team were paid bonus shares as part of the Group’s three-year Performance Share Plan.
The three-year-plan, launched in July 2007, was due to end in July 2010. However, after taking external advice, the Remuneration Committee decided to end the plan on April 15 specifically to exclude the losses due to the ash cloud as this was deemed to be an ‘exceptional’ event.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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