All eyes on housing data as bonus anger continues

Apr 14 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

FRESH data on the property market will be used this week to gauge the state of consumer confidence and the fall-out over city bonuses is likely to continue to provoke anger.

Thursday’s annual general meeting for oil major BP could be a tricky one for the group’s chairman, Sir Peter Sutherland.

Investors are due to gather at the ExCel Centre in London’s Docklands after a year of record profits – £18.1bn – thanks to soaring crude oil prices and improved operational performance.

But Sir Peter is facing calls for his departure from pension fund adviser PIRC, due to his involvement until February as a non-executive director of ailing Royal Bank of Scotland, now 70% owned by the taxpayer.

PIRC says his role at RBS – including membership of the remuneration committee which awarded former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin his controversial £703,000 a year pension – cast doubts over his suitability as chairman of BP.

BP has been stung by the criticism as Sir Peter was due to retire after a decade of service and is only staying on in the role until a successor is found. “PIRC’s view is not shared by our shareholders as a whole,” it says.

The oil major has already lost one director with RBS connections as Sir Tom McKillop, the bank’s former chairman, will step down on Thursday.

Meanwhile, PIRC has also called for investors to vote against the remuneration report for directors despite the record year.