Greencore to review CEO Coveney's annual pension contribution after shareholder vote

Greencore has said it will review its executive pay strategy in the wake of nearly a third of its shareholders voting against policy at its AGM.

Around 68% of investors passed the sandwich and salad maker's 2020-2023 remuneration policy, with around 32% voting against it. Of central concern is the gulf in pension contributions for Greencore's top executives versus its broad employee base.

Chief executive Patrick Coveney receives a pension package worth €315,000 - or 35% of his basic salary - with chief financial officer Eoin Tonge getting 25% of his salary. Greencore's wider staff gets a pension contribution of 8% of their salaries.

Chairman Gary Kennedy said Greencore has engaged "very proactively" with shareholders on the issue. In the run-up to the AGM, shareholder advisory group ISS urged investors to vote against the remuneration policy.

"It's good to see that the policy was actually approved, but there's very definitely a message there. Any time you get less than 80% of the vote you've got to listen to the mood music," Mr Kennedy said.

He said Greencore would consider what action to take on the pension contribution matter over the next three-to-four months. He said investors had previously been in favour of Greencore freezing pension contributions for executives, but had moved - within the last six months - to wanting more drastic moves to close the gap.

Meanwhile, Greencore said it expects to see improved trading within its core food-to-go division following what Mr Coveney called a "stickier" first quarter. The group reported a 1.8% increase in first quarter revenue - to £367.8m (€436m) - for the three months to the end of December. The food-to-go category grew more slowly than Greencore's other convenience food categories but showed some recovery after the UK general election last month.

The company said it does not expect a hard Brexit, sees further acquisitions in the food-to-go segment as being likely, and expects the current year to be profitable.

Greencore has also boosted its board with Just Eat director Helen Weir and Bibby Line Group chairman Paul Drechsler added as non-executive directors.