The message seems to be getting through to remuneration committees, with mining Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) the latest heavy to consult more on executive pay.
After BP's recent humbling, albeit one it could have chosen to ignore, Anglo got similar treatment with 41.59% of shareholders voting against the £3.4mln pay package of its chief executive, Mark Cutifani.
“Anglo American is mindful of the concerns expressed by a large number of shareholders in relation to executive remuneration,” the company said in a statement, as it released the results of votes at the annual general meeting.
“Setting executive remuneration in a volatile industry such as mining can be challenging and the Remuneration Committee intends to again engage with shareholders in order to refine the policy to ensure that it is both appropriate and motivational,” the statement said.
If shareholders are unhappy at Anglo American they are probably utterly distraught at Goldenport Holdings Inc (LON:GPRT), as the shipping company is giving up the ghost and delisting from the stock market.
The company debts outweigh its assets and it has not been able to renegotiate its loan facilities, so it looks like the end of the voyage for Goldenport.
Judging by the positive share price reaction, the shareholders of Wolf Minerals Limited (LON:WLFE) were a lot happier about the results of their company's general meeting than the Anglo investors were.
The establishment of a standby equity facility of up to £25 million with Resource Capital Fund VI was overwhelmingly approved at a meeting held down under, the Aussie-listed metals company revealed this morning.
Zoltav Resources Inc (LON:ZOL) sounds like a slightly sinister company name of the sort that might be featured in a DC Comics series or a James Bond film, but it is a Russia and CIS-focused oil and gas exploration and production company.
As such, it has been hit by the weakness of the rouble against the US dollar, but last year it still managed to pump revenue 41% higher to US$28.1mln from US$20.0mln the year before.
More importantly, it made an underlying profit (EBITDA) for the first time, with EBITDA of US$7.2mln, versus an underlying loss of US$3.3mln the year before.
Holy turnaround, Batman!
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), reckons the fabulously cash-rich iPhone maker should pay more tax.
Speaking to the BBC, “the Woz” said that paying taxes was just “part of life” and that every company should, in American parlance, suck it up and pay the man.
His views are at odds with Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple, who said that “Apple pays every tax dollar we owe”, which is not quite the same thing as paying every tax dollar it should, as the company goes to extortionate lengths to minimise its tax payments by legal means.
In some circles, that is regarded as good management, and until such time as the company's profits suffer through reputational damage or it gets hit by a massive fine, Apple is likely to stick to its guns.