Playtech boss gets £66k pay rise despite remuneration vote loss
Gambling software manufacturer Playtech has awarded its chairman a £66,000-a-year secret pay rise months after losing a remuneration vote with shareholders.
Chairman Alan Jackson has seen his salary increase from £384,000 to £450,000 a year, Sky News revealed, despite the fact that the company's share price has almost halved over the course of a year.
The majority of shareholders opposed the company's remuneration report and a third voted against the re-election of Jackson as chairman at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in May.
Following the vote, which was related to a non-binding advisory note, the firm said it would consider the reasons for the results against the report and Jackson's re-election.
Playtech, which will publish its interim results on Thursday, said it would "take these into account in the implementation of its remuneration policy going forward."
At the time Jackson said: "We have listened to our shareholders and we understand their concerns.
"We are committed to working with shareholders to address the issues raised going forwards."
Playtech will need to get majority shareholder support for a new pay policy.
Shares slumped by 23 per cent in July after the company announced a profit warning related to new competition and poor performance in the Asian market.
It followed another warning in November last year when the Isle-of-Man based firm said its full-year profit would be five per cent less than market expectations.
Playtech declined to comment.