Brett Blundy defends CEO’s $30m pay as Lovisa gets third strike

afr.com:

Brett Blundy, the billionaire chairman of Lovisa, says he will not buckle to investor concerns over excessive remuneration, after shareholders voted against the jewellery chain’s pay report for a third year running.

Proxies showed that at this year’s in-person-only annual meeting 73.68 per cent were against the pay report, delivering the retailer another strike, and making it the largest no vote recorded. In 2021, 47.76 per cent proxies voted against the report. Last year, a board spill motion was called but voted down after the company received a second strike.

The pay report shows a staggering $30 million salary for its chief executive, Victor Herrero, a 13-year veteran of Spanish retail giant Inditex, the owner of Zara and Pull & Bear.

Lovisa CEO Victor Herrero shows off his fashion jewellery at the AGM in Melbourne. Ayesha de Kretser

But Mr Blundy, who via his BB Retail Capital owns per 40 per cent of Lovisa, shrugged off the vote, saying the board has “the best intent for the best results and will continue to function that way”.

“I’m not sure of the exact number but approximately 50 per cent of the shareholders of the company can’t vote on this resolution,” Mr Blundy told Lovisa’s annual meeting in Melbourne on Wednesday.

“We deal with issues of remuneration as we deal with all the issues that come before us … in assessing what we think is the right thing to do in order to continue to drive the company forward. The caveat on that is we won’t always get it right.”

Mr Blundy said Mr Herrero “works unbelievably” and was “committed beyond anything that I’ve experienced in my entire career”.

The company reported a 6.2 per cent drop in same store sales in the first 20 weeks of this year. This was a continuation of the