Betfair hit by pay revolt over Breon Corcoran bonus despite record revenues
Almost one third of Betfair shareholders yesterday voted against pay and bonus deals for chief executive Breon Corcoran, despite the online betting exchange reporting strong growth in quarterly profit, thanks mainly to the World Cup.
At its annual general meeting yesterday, Betfair said it had generated revenue of almost £16m from the World Cup, more than double what it made during Euro 2012.
The Brazil tournament helped to lift core profit 39 per cent to £34.5m in the three months to 31 July, the first quarter of its financial year.
However, corporate governance group Pirc led a revolt of shareholders who had been critical of pay arrangements at Betfair. Pirc noted that Corcoran could be entitled to a bonus of up to 380 per cent of his salary, describing performance benchmarks as “not adequate” and suggested share rewards were being released too quickly.
Corcoran’s pay package was worth £1.28m for 2014, according to the annual report, down from £3.7m the previous year, when he joined the business.
His 2013 remuneration was boosted by a “golden hello” of restricted share awards and payments to cover his relocation from Ireland.
A Pirc report, issued earlier this week, told investors: “Awarded [Betfair] CEO pay is not considered in line with the company’s financial performance over the last five years.”
Pirc had recommended a binding vote against Betfair’s boardroom pay policy, but investors chose instead to deliver a warning shot to Leo Quinn, the board’s remuneration committee chairman who took over in April.
About 24m shares – or 32 per cent of votes cast – were against Betfair’s remuneration report, with a further 2.2m abstention votes.
Last year, only 4.6 per cent of shareholders voted against the pay report. There was only a small ripple of protest from shareholders in relation to Betfair’s annual report, with only six per cent voting against or abstaining.
Meanwhile, the betting firm also saw a significant increase in mobile betting revenue, up 162 per cent providing around 70 per cent of total sportsbook revenue.