Outsourcer Xchanging says trading is stable but a quarter of investors reject pay deal
OUTSOURCING firm Xchanging yesterday said that trading in the first four months of the year was in line with expectations – but there were rumblings of shareholder discontent as a quarter of investors voted against the remuneration report at the firm’s AGM.
Some 24.7 per cent of votes cast were against the pay deal, which will see £1.45m shared by three directors for the year ending 2011.
“We have seen a steady start to the year as we pursue our agenda of building the foundations for growth,” said CEO Ken Lever.
“Our objectives in 2012 are to demonstrate that we can compete to win in our chosen markets and to achieve year-on-year improvement in financial performance.”
The firm has seen its share price grow by over 60 per cent since December but yesterday analysts at Seymour Pierce cut their rating to “sell” from “hold”, on the basis that the firm was trading at a prospective price-to-earnings ratio of 11.8, which it said was “steep for a company which still has a lot to prove”.
Shares in the firm closed yesterday off 2.6 per cent.