BT Shareholders Approve Executive Pay At Meeting

22nd Jul 2010 15:37

LONDON (Dow Jones)--BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) shareholders Thursday approved executive pay at the U.K. telecommunication group's annual meeting in Liverpool, despite opposition by the Association of British Insurers, based on proxy votes. Around 93.7% voted in favor of the group's remuneration, while 6.3% were against, said a BT spokesman, who attended the meeting. The remuneration also raised the ire of BT's biggest union, Communication Workers Union, who reached a new pay deal for workers earlier this month. In addition to the remuneration resolution, 13 other resolutions were passed, which included the re-election of Chairman Michael Rake and Chief Executive Ian Livingston as directors, based on proxy votes. The final vote is yet to be announced. At the meeting, which was attended by around 130 shareholders, Rake highlighted the group's return to profit in the year ended March 31 2010, which he described as a "year of delivery." He also noted that BT had cut its cost base by GBP1.8 billion in fiscal 2010, while increasing its cash flow by more than GBP1 billion to GBP1.9 billion. Whilst BT is now a "much better company than a few years ago," it couldn't afford any complacency, Rake told shareholders. -By Lilly Vitorovich, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-0-207 842 9290; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 22, 2010 10:37 ET (14:37 GMT)