Flint takes £800k hit on HSBC shares
HSBC’s FD Douglas Flint will miss out on more than £800,000 after board members were stripped of bonus shares as the company’s performance lagged behind its competitors last year
The bank’s top-level executives had been looking forward to the vesting of a
long-term incentive
plan after it was established five years ago, but the scheme is calculated on
total shareholder return, a measure that also takes account of dividends paid by
the company.
HSBC’s performance had to be in the top half of a group of 28 international
peers for the scheme to pay out, but the corporate failed to overcome the
threshold.
Flint, FD since 1995, raked in a total pay packet of £1.19m in 2005, but the
bank weathered criticism from investors after a lethargic showing, culminating
in a share slump at the end of 2006.
The banking giant’s shares lost 5p over the course of the year.
The company this week further denied suggestions that it is looking to leave
the UK over the tax. The bank regularly reviews its HQ situation on the grounds
of transport, availability of skills and tax. ‘Every since 1992, and I see no
reason this is going to change as of now, the answer has been London,’ said
chairman Stephen Green.
COMPANY REPORTS
Weigold set for £5.6m incentive bonanza
A £40m cash payout to stop senior management leaving PartyGaming following a
drop in its share price, is reportedly being dissected by the online betting
group’s large investors for breaches of the City’s corporate governance codes.
Under the terms of the plan, FD Martin Weigold stands to rake in £5.6m if he
stays with the gaming giant until the end of 2008. The unusually structured
share and cash payouts have no link to the future share price or performance of
the company usually demanded from executive remuneration schemes.The scheme is
unique since it is being bankrolled by the founders of PartyGaming, which
dropped out of the FTSE 100 after the US ban on overseas companies’ online
gaming operations.
Asda in £600,000 tax claim against ex CEO
Asda is ready to drag its former chief execAllan Leighton through the courts
in a last-ditch bid to recover £600,000 it claims should have been paid in tax.
The windfall amount relates to the share options that the Royal Mail chairman
cashed in when he left the Wal-Mart-owned chain in 2000.Asda paid out the
multi-millionpounddividend but failed to deduct the tax due.
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Former Apple CFO to be probed
Apple’s former CFO Fred Anderson and another senior executive are to face the
scrutiny of an internal probe in relation to options backdating issues.
Anderson, who retired in 2004, and Apple’s ex-legal counsel and board secretary
Nancy Heinen, are among those set to come under the spotlight. The company
announced a £42.5m hit to its most recent quarterly results in the wake of the
scandal.