Angry Aegis shareholders reject remuneration package

LONDON - Angry Aegis Group shareholders this afternoon rejected the remuneration packages put forward by the media buying and research firm in a close vote at its annual general meeting.

The vote at the AGM followed the group's announcement earlier today that group revenues were up by nearly 11% for the first quarter of the year and that the advertising recovery is taking hold in all of its markets.

Shareholders rejected the Remuneration Report by 376,922,138 to 364,776,806 with 24,421,396 abstentions. However, shareholders failed to block the amendment giving authority for directors to allot shares -- this got through by 665,380,332 to 100,601,438.

In a statement Aegis, the owner of the Carat and Vizeum media networks, said that the board "clearly registers shareholders' particular sensitivity to contractual notice periods and payments on termination".

Aegis said that it would continue its dialogue with shareholders in light of the vote and will discuss the appropriate steps that need to be taken.

Regarding the group's finances, chairman Lord Sharman said that revenues for the group were comfortably ahead of last year and that Aegis was "marginally more positive" on the outlook for the advertising market.

In a statement, Lord Sharman said: "Net new business for Aegis Media in the first quarter was well ahead of last year, although not yet back to the levels of 2002.

"Both Carat and Vizeum are experiencing a better new-business pipeline. The group won net new business of $285m (£157m) in the quarter compared with $103m in the same period last year."

Lord Sharman added that Europe was showing a marked improvement. Shares in Aegis, which also owns the market research firm Synovate, were trading at 87p in the middle of the day, up by 4.2%, or 3.5p.

The firm also said that the process of integrating the healthcare research business into a single worldwide operation was under way and Synovate's strengthened European management team was identifying further opportunities for expansion and efficiency gains.

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