Revolt Over Royal Dutch Shell Executive Pay Ramps Up

The revolt over executive pay has intensified after the number of shareholders at Royal Dutch Shell in London and the Hague opposing the group's executive pay packet has strengthened over the past year.

According to detaIls at Shell's Annual General Meeting, nine percent voted against the company executive's pay package, which is a two percent rise from the year before.

Last year, Chief executive Peter Voser received €11.7m, which is more than double the amount he earned in 2010, as part of a lucrative long-term incentive plan. In a breakdown of his pay packet, Voser pocketed a €5.2m in annual salary and bonus awards, which was boosted further by €6.5m from long-term rewards plans.

The current executives' pay packets include a three to five percent pay rise.

Executives at the oil giant hit back at the shareholders who opposed the deal, by saying that it reflected the company's performance in 2011.

In its latest set of results, Shell reported an 11 percent rise in profits to $7.66bn for the first three months of 2012, which were helped by rising oil prices and better production volumes.

Shell is the latest in a long line of companies facing a shareholder revolt over executive pay.

Meanwhile, Tesco boss Philip Clarke confirmed that he will be passing up an annual bonus of about £372,000, which would quash a potential outcry by investors who are becoming increasingly critical of executive pay. The UK retailer posted a poor performance in its main British market.

IBTimes UK has extensively covered the UK executive pay issue, with reports on shareholders revolting against executive pay at RBS, Barclays and Aviva.