Major shareholders warn Qantas board on Joyce’s terms of exit
Qantas’ major superannuation investors are ramping up the pressure on the airline’s board to curtail outgoing chief executive Alan Joyce’s pay packet, warning his early exit “has not erased the issues that concern us”.
The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors’s chief executive Louise Davidson said Mr Joyce’s decision to expedite his exit from Qantaswould not alleviate pressure for the board to be transparent about his pay packet.
ACSI chief executive Louise Davidson at the Financial Review Energy Summit last year. She says the Qantas board needs to act on executive remuneration. Louise Kennerley
“The early departure of the Qantas CEO this week has not erased the issues that concern us, and we are interested in the terms of his exit,” she said.
“We still expect the board to carefully consider any executive bonuses in light of the issues the company is facing. The question investors will ask is, how does the board justify any bonus outcomes given the legacy issues Mr Joyce is leaving behind.”
Qantas will provide executive pay details, including Mr Joyce’s, this month.
Shares have fallen almost 15 per cent since early August, when the company had a market capitalisation of more than $11 billion, and were 2.8 per cent lower on Thursday afternoon at $5.54, down 16¢. Qantas is now worth around $9.6 billion.
Qantas chairman Richard Goyder is under pressure from the company’s largest investors. Rhett Wymann
Late last week, ACSI warned that it was closely scrutinising Qantas’s next move after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleged the airline had illegally sold tickets on cancelled services before Mr Joyce’s decision to leave.
ACSI represents major superannuation funds, which between them and other
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