Goyder package gets protest vote

Wesfarmers shareholders have delivered a mild rebuke to their board of directors, delivering a protest vote against a new share options scheme but supporting the company’s remuneration report.

The most contentious issue at today’s annual meeting was the long term incentive scheme for Mr Goyder, which is based on a series of new performance hurdles.

His current incentive scheme is based on a return on equity target, but the company has failed to come close to the 12.5 per cent hurdle needed for Mr Goyder to qualify for the extra reward.

The new scheme uses total shareholder returns as a key performance metric, and tracks Wesfarmers relative to its top-50 peers.

Proxy votes lodged prior to the annual meeting showed that 16 per cent of shareholders were opposed to the new scheme, while nine per cent were opposed to a new scheme for finance director Terry Bowen.

Only seven per cent of proxy votes were against the remuneration report, well short of the 25 per cent level that constitutes ‘strike one’ under new legislation.