DHAKA: BP holds its annual shareholders’ meeting on Thursday with some investors planning to vote against chief executive Bob Dudley’s 20% pay rise.

Shareholders in the oil giant are concerned that rises for Dudley and other executives come despite job cuts and falling profits, reports the BBC.

Those who have spoken out include Aberdeen Asset Management and Royal London Asset Management.

But BP said the firm's performance beat most measures that determine pay.

The pay rise for Dudley takes his salary package to £14m.

Shareholder group Sharesoc branded the pay deal ‘simply too high’, while Glass Lewis, ShareSoc, Pirc and Institutional Shareholder Services have also expressed their opposition.

Ashley Hamilton Claxton, corporate governance manager at Royal London, told the BBC, ‘The executives received the maximum bonuses possible in a year when (BP) made a record loss, and to us that just does not translate into very good decision-making by the board’.

‘We think it sends the wrong message. It shows that the board is out of touch.’

BDST: 1512 HRS, APR 14, 2016
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