London - Brewer SABMiller
[JSE:SAB] suffered a backlash from investors when 16% of shareholders voting at the company's annual shareholder meeting opposed last year's pay awards to directors.
Holders of some 219 million shares voted against director remuneration, while owners of 1.2 billion shares were in favour with 24 million withheld, a statement from the company showed on Thursday.
The average vote against remuneration reports last year was 5.6%, according to shareholder advisory group PIRC which has compiled data from a sample of 500 company meetings.
One of the biggest revolts this year was at budget airline EasyJet, where over 55% of votes, including those of top shareholder and company founder Stelios Haji-Iaoannou, were either cast against the directors' remuneration report or withheld.
Shares in SABMiller, which earlier on Thursday reported a rise in first-quarter beer volumes, were up 0.1% to 2317 pence in London in afternoon trade.