UK’s Boohoo scraps executive bonus plan after shareholder backlash

UK’s Boohoo Group’s bosses have waived their annual bonuses and scrapped plans to raise executive awards after talks with certain shareholders, the online fashion retailer said on Tuesday.

Boohoo had been on the brink of a shareholder revolt at next month’s AGM over proposals for a new long-term incentive scheme for executives that would award them bonuses despite wider losses at the Manchester-based company, The Times reported on Monday.

The London-listed company said it had withdrawn the resolution relating to executives’ bonuses from its annual general meeting (AGM) agenda.

Earlier in the month, the group, whose brands include PrettyLittleThing, Karen Millen and Debenhams, reported an annual statutory loss before tax of nearly 160 million pounds, compared to a loss of 90.7 million pounds a year ago.

The incentive plan, which would have combined the existing annual bonus and the company’s 2022 long-term incentive plan into one single plan, would have led to a maximum award of up to 500% of the executives’ salaries this fiscal.

According to its latest annual report, Co-founders Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane, as well as CEO John Lyttle, received annual bonuses of 1 million pounds each for the fiscal year ended Feb. 29, 2024.

For last fiscal year, maximum bonus opportunity for senior executives was up to 300% of their salaries.

The company will consider further engagement with shareholders on this matter in the future, it said.