DUBLIN/LONDON (Reuters) – Investors in the world’s biggest advertising agency WPP rejected Chief Executive Martin Sorrell’s 6.8 million pound pay award, after he sought to defend a big rise unlike some other British bosses who have taken cuts.

Almost 60 percent of shareholders voted against WPP’s remuneration report at an annual meeting in Dublin on Wednesday, in the latest example of opposition to excessive boardroom pay that has been dubbed Britain’s “Shareholder Spring.”

DUBLIN/LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) – Investors in the world’s
biggest advertising agency WPP rejected Chief Executive
Martin Sorrell’s 6.8 million pound ($10.6 million) pay award,
after he sought to defend a big rise unlike some other British
bosses who have taken cuts.

Almost 60 percent of shareholders voted against WPP’s
remuneration report at an annual meeting in Dublin on Wednesday,
in the latest example of opposition to excessive boardroom pay
that has been dubbed Britain’s “Shareholder Spring.”

LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) – PLUS Markets Group, the
London stock exchange for smaller companies, moved decisively to
block a takeover by Gulf Merchant Bank on Friday by confirming
its support for the bid agreed with ICAP two weeks ago.

PLUS said in an emailed statement that while the “headline
consideration from GMB appears greater… the GMB proposal is
materially less attractive in terms of net financial benefit”.

LONDON (Reuters) – Kingfisher (KGF.L: Quote, Profile, Research), owner of the B&Q and Castorama home improvement chains, posted a steep fall in profit, hurt by a weaker euro and April’s torrential rain which put British and French shoppers off buying spring favourites such as barbecues.

Shares in Europe’s biggest home improvements retailer rose as much as 3 percent, however, on hopes that with the sun now shining it can make up lost ground, particularly as Jubilee celebrations in Britain to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne and the London Olympics improve the public mood.

LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) – British luxury brand Burberry
hopes to insulate itself against global economic
headwinds by investing in bigger stores in major cities such as
London, Chicago and Hong Kong that are popular both with
tourists and the super rich.

Reporting another jump in profit on Wednesday, Burberry said
it would invest up to 200 million pounds ($316 million) in the
business over the coming year with about one third of it going
towards larger format outlets including a relocated store on
London’s Regent Street and a rebuild in Chicago.

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) – Tesco boss Philip Clarke has
decided not to take an annual bonus of about 372,000 pounds
($588,000) after the retailer’s poor performance in its main
British market, heading off a potential outcry by investors
increasingly critical of executive pay.

The world’s third-biggest retailer, which issued a shock
profit warning in January, also said on Tuesday its top 5,000
managers would receive a reduced annual bonus representing 16.9
percent of their maximum entitlement.

LONDON (Reuters) – International Airlines Group (ICAG.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, said first quarter losses more than doubled as higher fuel costs and weakness in Spain undermined strength in premium long-haul travel out of London.

“Demand in London remains strong,” IAG said in a results statement on Friday. “The Spanish and wider euro zone macro-economic background deteriorated in Q1, and this is reflected in a worsening commercial performance from our Madrid hub.”

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) – International Airlines Group
, formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia,
said first quarter losses more than doubled as higher fuel costs
and weakness in Spain undermined strength in premium long-haul
travel out of London.

“Demand in London remains strong,” IAG said in a results
statement on Friday. “The Spanish and wider euro zone
macro-economic background deteriorated in Q1, and this is
reflected in a worsening commercial performance from our Madrid
hub.”

LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) – Retailer Clinton Cards is
set to become the latest casualty on the British high street
after its debt was sold by lenders including state-owned RBS
and subsequently called in, putting thousands of jobs at
risk.

Clinton Cards, said it had no option but to agree to a
proposal by the new owner of the debt, its biggest supplier
American Greetings, that it should be placed in
administration as it could not repay a 35 million pounds ($56.5
million) loan.

LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) – Probes into phone hacking and the
legacy of a failed bid by Rupert Murdoch to seize full control
look likely to overshadow a resilient set of results from
satellite broadcaster BSKyB on Wednesday.

BSkyB, already 39 percent-owned by Murdoch’s News Corp
, was dragged firmly into the centre of the hacking
storm engulfing Murdoch’s British newspaper business when its
Sky News channel admitted last month that it hacked into emails
on two occasions.