Investors urged to oppose M&S pay

Investors in Marks & Spencer have been urged to oppose the retailer's remuneration report by the governance body Pirc, which considers its executive pay to be "highly excessive".

M&S shareholders should vote against the company's pay report at its 14 July annual meeting, Pirc said.

It highlighted the potential of the M&S remuneration committee to grant a variable remuneration of 650 per cent of basic salary and the £15m pay package awarded to the group's new chief executive, Marc Bolland, to lure him away from Morrison's supermarkets.

Pirc's statement came after the Association of British Insurers issued an "amber top" warning about the remuneration report, and the investor group Manifest criticised M&S's pay policies.