Carlton shareholders rebel over executive pay deals

LONDON - Rebel shareholders of Carlton Communications followed the lead of their Granada counterparts today, by using the broadcaster's AGM to air their grievances about generous directors' pay packages.

One in three Carlton investors opposed the remuneration packages of directors at the company, either by abstaining from voting or by voting against them. Almost one in six failed to support Michael Green's re-election as chairman.

Green's package was worth £707,000 last year and earlier this year he was awarded 1.4m share options.

This compares with Granada's AGM last week, when one in four Granada shareholders voted against director's pay packages and chairman Charles Allen's two-year rolling contract.

Investor groups have been lobbying Carlton and Granada shareholders over recent weeks to vote against the pay packages amid fears that directors may carry over their pay deals to the merged ITV and cash in once the merger has taken place. Concerns at Carlton centre on the lack of transparency over pay deals and calls for executive packages to relate to the company's financial performance.

The news came at Carlton's AGM where Green said that the advertising market has showed signs of improvement in the first quarter, but with the war in Iraq he expected the following months to be challenging.

Green said that Carlton's ITV1 advertising revenue for the first six months of the current financial year was anticipated to be at a similar level to last year.

However, the war in Iraq, he said, was causing uncertainty as advertisers weigh up their positions.

Green said: "The advertising market showed signs of improvement in the first quarter of our current financial year, but, as we stated at our year end, we expected the following months to be challenging.

"The threat of war caused uncertainty among our advertisers and it remains to be seen how they react to the conflict," he said.

He said that ITV flagship channel ITV1 had seen an improvement in its autumn peak-time ratings, which has been carried through into this year. This, Green said, had made the station more attractive to advertisers.

"ITV2, ITV1's digital sister channel, enjoyed the highest year-on-year growth in audience share of any UK channel in 2002 and is becoming increasingly valued by advertisers. ITV's three channels have delivered an overall peak-time share of commercial audiences of 53% during the first five months of our current financial year," he said.

Talking about the £2.6bn merger with Granada, which has now been referred to the Competition Commission, Green said that the benefits of the merger were clear.

"The benefits of a consolidated ITV are clear. Shareholders will see greater efficiency, lower costs and more ability to exploit growth opportunities. Viewers will benefit from a stronger programme schedule, as will advertisers with improved audience share and commercial impacts," he said.

He added: "ITV is already one network and advertisers follow viewers and viewers follow programmes. We look forward to working with the Competition Commission over the coming months."

Carlton has been buoyed by record UK cinema audiences, which are now at their highest for 30 years. Green said that Carlton Screen Advertising is expected to show a healthy increase in revenues as it continues to develop its advertising businesses in North America and Europe.

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