Angus McAngry, Lombard’s shareholder spring correspondent, reports on yet more bumper bonuses:
Nick Robertson, chief executive of Asos, faces growing pressure from investors after the online fashion retailer announced he would receive shares worth £23.3m. The bonanza has been awarded despite the company’s failure to pay any dividends.
Shareholders in the Aim-quoted company will press Mr Robertson not to step down. They want him to go on doing whatever it is he does that increased sales and revenues by more than 40 per cent last year and the share price by 400 per cent since 2009.
A top 10 investor, speaking anonymously, said: “Frankly, my fashion sense only extends to putting on matching socks in the morning. But Nick seems to instinctively know what frocks young popsies want to buy off the interweb. It’s not a knack that would do a fellow credit at White’s. But it’s handy in a garments retailer.”
An analyst said: “At the moment, we analysts see Mr Robertson as an entrepreneur rather than the boss of a big, mature company that we’re all secretly a bit bored with. If he slips up, the City may get an opportunity to punish him savagely. But that Bill Gammell moment seems a long way off as Asos uses retained profits to push into lucrative new markets.”
A left-leaning shareholder voting consultancy commented: “We’re dead batting this one. But did I mention the pivotal role we played in ousting Andrew Moss?”