Tui shareholders rebel over director's pay-off

Anger at fat cat bonuses expanded beyond the banking sector yesterday after a fifth of investors at Tui Travel, the company behind Thomson Holidays, voted against approving its remuneration report.

The protest vote was a clear sign of anger at the £2.4m paid last year to Paul Bowtell, the finance director who left after a £117m accounting error was uncovered. He received £745,000 severance pay and a £343,000 contribution to his pension. The protest vote came as Tui reported first-quarter results, saying it is benefitting at the expense of its rival, Thomas Cook, which required a bank bailout last year. Tui's sales at the end of 2011 rose 5 per cent to £2.85bn. It made an expected loss of £109m – travel firms are usually in the red over the winter.