Under-pressure chairman Philip Rogerson was re-elected at the AGM with a majority of 91.17% of votes cast, despite calls by activist investor Crystal Amber that he should be replaced.
However, the security printer's remuneration report was only approved by a narrow majority, with 51.99% of votes cast for and 48.01% against – reflecting the controversy over chief executive Martin Sutherland’s £197,000 bonus. Last year the remuneration report was approved by 98.17%.
In a statement, De La Rue’s board said it was pleased that all the resolutions at its AGM had been passed, but was “disappointed with the lower level of support received for the advisory vote on our remuneration report”.
“The Company is committed to continuing to engage with shareholders to further understand and determine how best to address their concerns. The Remuneration Committee will seek shareholder views as the Company develops the new Directors' Remuneration Policy which will be put forward for approval at the 2020 AGM in line with our usual cycle for renewal.”
Sutherland, who will leave the business once a successor has been appointed, received his bonus despite the PLC issuing three profit warnings in the space of 15 months, losing the flagship UK passport contract, and being forced to make an £18.1m provision for a bad debt relating to a Venezuelan customer that is currently unable to pay its bill.
To add to the firm's woes, the SFO launched a probe into its activities in South Sudan earlier this week.
At the AGM Rogerson said that expectations for the 2019/20 were unchanged from the outlook it shared in May. “Based on our expectations from Product Authentication & Traceability and the planned timings of cost cutting initiatives, the group's performance is expected to be heavily weighted towards the second half of the year.”
De La Rue’s share price has halved over the past year, and slipped from 296.5p to 225p this week, a ten-year low. It was at 229.5p at the time of writing.
