Centrica staves off investor unrest after slashing bonuses and cutting jobs

British Gas owner Centrica managed to keep investors happy at its AGM today, despite murmurings that poor performance and a lack of diversity at board level could leave them with questions to answer.

All of the resolutions proposed at the AGM, including the remuneration report and the re-election of the directors, were passed by more than 89 per cent of shareholders.

Shortly before the AGM Centrica said its directors would forego their bonuses, which were 10 per cent of their salary, since the firm's share price had dropped more than 20 per cent over the course of the year.

Earlier this year, boss Iain Conn saw his pay packet halved for 2017 to £1.7m.

The British Gas parent was also forced to prove its commitment to gender diversity, since just two of its current eleven board members are female.

"As a board we are 100 per cent supportive of ethnic and gender diversity," a spokesperson said.

"We know that there is more that we can and must do to have a more diverse board and are actively focused on increasing the number of female directors."

Earlier today, Centrica said its services division had been under pressure due to the severe weather earlier this year. It lost 110,000 energy supply accounts in the UK, and said it would lop around 1,000 jobs.

Centrica was one of many businesses holding AGMs this week. Cineworld may be forced to justify a jump in executive pay, while Shell and Astrazeneca are being questioned over large bonuses awarded to their chief executives.

Read more: Fresh wave of shareholder protests set to hit FTSE firms

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