Daily Mail & General Trust attacked over share structure and editor’s pay

by Chris Tryhorn, for The Guardian, January 28, 2010.

Daily Mail & General Trust has been criticised by corporate governance watchdogs over bonuses, Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre‘s pay deal and its shareholder structure.

The shareholder consultants Pirc and Manifest have both flagged up what they regard as a number of problems with the company’s annual report ahead of its annual general meeting on 10 February.

Pirc is recommending that shareholders vote against the company’s remuneration report because of concerns about bonuses and other rewards.

It is also urging them to oppose the report and accounts as a protest against DMGT’s dual share structure, which allows the chairman, Lord Rothermere, to control the company.

Pirc drew attention to the £3.23m bonus paid to Padraic Fallon, the chairman of Euromoney Institutional Investor, which was the equivalent of 15.44 times his £209,000 salary as he benefited from a profit-sharing scheme. “Combined remuneration is considered to be potentially excessive,” it said…(continue reading)