Berkeley FD faces up to bonus fallout

New Berkeley Group FD Nick Simpkin will have to be on his most diplomatic behaviour when meeting the company’s investors, after 9% of shareholders voted against the company remuneration report at its AGM.

Directors will receive equity based on the performance of the business, with terms that corporate governance lobby group Pirc says are “highly excessive awards”. Simpkin joined the housebuilders in 2002, and is previously an FD at St James. The former FD Rob Perrins takes on the group MD role at the business.

Former Woolworths FD Stephen East has not been deterred from the high street. He joins the Local Shopping REIT (LSR), an investment trust focused on local shopping assets, as a non-executive director. He will chair its audit and nomination committee. “His deep knowledge and experience of the retail and property sectors will be of enormous benefit to LSR during this next exciting stage in the company’s evolution,” said chairman Grahame Whateley.

LSR recently spent £4m on the purchase of 12 properties, estimating an 8% yield.
Across the pond, reports suggest that General Motors CFO Ray Young could be a high profile casualty of the stricken manufacturer. It received a $50bn (£30bn) emergency loan from the US government in July.

The biggest investigators are looking to beef up their teams as financial frauds start to appear out of the woodwork. Kroll has made a high profile appointment, with Brendan Hawthorne joining as London office managing director. He joins from Aviva, having spent seven years at E&Y as group financial crime and investigations director.

Accounting firms’ network Nexia is looking to take its technical expertise up another level with the appointment of Simon Riley as technical and quality manager. He will focus on Nexia’s international quality control review and annual confirmation programmes, which are central to it ensuring audit quality.