THE FORMER chief executive of Alliance Trust saw her 2017 remuneration package cut as a result of poor performance in the fund’s platform business, Alliance Trust Savings (ATS).
Despite being made redundant in February 2016, Katherine Garrett-Cox is still being remunerated by the investment trust because she parted on so-called “good leaver” terms.
Her package for the year totalled £831,388 - down from £1.3 million the previous year – and included £736,853 of shares that will vest in 2020. This represented around two-thirds of the maximum shareholding she could have received.
Anthony Brooke, chairman of Alliance Trust’s remuneration committee, said: “The committee agreed that the reduction in the value of Alliance Trust Savings should be taken into account in calculating the percentage of the awards which will vest. As a result […] the vesting percentage is 62.5 per cent.”
While the £2.7 billion trust, which moved to a multi-manager approach last year, outperformed its benchmark by five percentage points in the year to December, ATS made a loss of £13.6m
This resulted in the value of the business, which is wholly owned by the trust, being written down from £61.5 million to £38m.
In addition to her remuneration for the 2017 year, Ms Garrett-Cox saw £678,990 of shares awarded in previous years vest in 2017.
The trust stopped making long-term incentive awards in 2015, although all directors are required to hold at least 3,000 of its shares.
Current chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin, whose pay packet remained unchanged at £120,000 in 2017, holds 18,000 shares.
Deputy chairman Gregor Stewart, who holds 25,000 shares, received fees of £80,000 for his Alliance Trust role as well as £35,000 for his role on the board of ATS.
The other directors each received £35,000 although one, Claire Dobbie, was awarded an additional £30,000 for formulating the trust’s marketing and branding strategy and revamping its website.
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