De La Rue Shareholders Narrowly Pass Executive Pay Report

(Bloomberg) -- Shareholders of De La Rue Plc, the more than 200 year-old bank note and passport printer, narrowly passed its pay report in one of the biggest British investor protests this year.

About 48% of investors voted against the measure, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Just four other U.K. companies have had larger revolts on their remuneration reports this year, according to the Investment Association, the trade body for U.K. investment managers.

The Details

• Shareholders voted 91% to re-elect Chairman Philip Rogerson, according to the statement. Rogerson has been targeted by activists at Crystal Amber, who called for him to stand down at the meeting.
• All of the board’s resolutions passed, according to a statement.
• The board “is disappointed with the lower level of support received for the advisory vote on our remuneration report,” it said. “The remuneration committee will seek shareholder views as the company develops the new directors’ remuneration policy.”
• A new policy will be put forward for approval at the 2020 AGM.
• “It’s appalling that they ignore underlying profitability to pay bonuses to the board,” Richard Bernstein, Crystal Amber’s founder, said in an interview after the meeting.

The Background

• The protest came two days after De La Rue announced that it’s being investigated by U.K. prosecutors over allegations related to corruption in South Sudan. The shares slumped to their lowest level since 1998 in intraday trading after the probe was revealed.
• The shareholders’ proxy votes ahead of the meeting were due at 10:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
• Activist shareholder Crystal Amber, which owns around 6.4% of the company’s shares, has criticized the executive bonuses. The investor has campaigned for the chairman to quit and for the company to explore deals including the sale of its banknote printing business.
• De La Rue has called the activist’s proposals “destabilizing.”

To contact the reporter on this story: David Hellier in London at dhellier@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dinesh Nair at dnair5@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson, Michael Hytha

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