Ladbrokes shareholders bet against directors' pay

Chief executive Jim Mullen, who took on the post in March last year, was paid a total of £567,000 for the nine months he was in the role.

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Finance director Ian Bull was allowed to keep a performance-related share package worth up to £600,000 which some shareholders felt was not in line with company policy

 

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His predecessor, Richard Glynn, earned £734,000 in 2014, and almost £4.7m in 2013, thanks to the payment of some long-term incentives.

Finance director Ian Bull earned £715,000 in 2015, up from £503,000 in 2014 and £2.05m in 2013. As part of their total pay packets, both men received a bonus worth around 25pc of their respective salaries.

The betting company said that it “understands the concerns expressed by some shareholders” surrounding the termination arrangement of Mr Bull, who left the company in February in the run-up to its proposed merger with Gala Coral, which was announced in July last year.

Bull was allowed to keep a performance-related share package worth up to £600,000 which some shareholders felt was not in line with company policy.

Ladbrokes issued a statement following the AGM, saying that the "shareholder observations" would play a “key part” in the board’s thinking on remuneration in the future.

The £2.3bn merger between Ladbrokes and Gala Coral, announced in July last year, will create Britain’s biggest bookmaker, giving the combined business more than 4,000 betting shops and significant market share. The deal is currently being reviewed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). 

Costs associated with the acquisition helped to push Ladbrokes into its first pre-tax loss in a decade earlier this year. But the company has also been struggling to cope with a big increase in gambling taxes, introduced last year, and its share priced has halved over the past three years.