The compensation of Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard for 2021 sparked strong protest from shareholders on Friday, with more than 41% of votes “against” at the group’s general meeting. It was approved with an unusually low score at the general meeting, at 58.83%.
The principle of this compensation had already been validated at only 63% at the previous general meeting in May 2021. It is broken down into three parts, including a fixed compensation of 1.5 million euros, unchanged since his arrival in head of the group in 2017. To this is added an annual variable portion, a maximum of 190% of the fixed compensation, i.e. a maximum of 2.85 million euros, subject to performance conditions. Finally, a so-called long-term compensation is planned. It must not exceed 50% of the maximum total compensation. The latter is a little less than 4 million euros, according to the brochure convening the general meeting on Friday.
This “long-term compensation”, which will take the form of an “attribution of performance shares”, will materialize on February 17, 2024 “provided that the performance conditions have been met” and that Alexandre Bompard “is present in the business on that date,” the financial document states.
On the other hand, Alexandre Bompard’s compensation policy for the current year, the 2022 financial year, was approved much more comfortably, with nearly 85% of votes in favor. It generally provides for the same amount of compensation, the fixed and variable portions remaining unchanged, while the so-called long-term portion, also payable in shares, is increased to 52.5% of the maximum overall compensation.
Net profit up sharply, to 1.07 billion euros
“The final vesting of these shares will take place on February 16, 2025 subject to the achievement of the performance conditions assessed over a period of three years and the presence condition”, stipulates the notice of meeting brochure. As of December 31, 2021, the Moulin family, owner of Galeries Lafayette, was Carrefour’s largest shareholder with 12.14% of the capital and 16.8% of the “real voting rights”.
The second shareholder, the Brazilian billionaire Abilio Diniz, who was comfortably renewed as group administrator (95.3% of the votes) on Friday, holds 8.06% of the capital and just under 13% of the voting rights. The American bank Bank of America Merill Lynch is the third shareholder with 6.25% of the capital and just over 5% of the voting rights. More than 70% of the group’s capital is floating.
In 2021, Carrefour achieved a sharp increase in net profit, to 1.07 billion euros, for sales up 2.3% on a like-for-like store basis, to 81.245 billion euros.
The unions denounce the group’s wage policy
Questions about the CEO’s salary were not the only ones during this AG. The CFDT and the CGT also questioned Friday during the general meeting of Carrefour its CEO Alexandre Bompard on the concerns of employees concerning their remuneration in the context of high inflation, as well as on the passage of many stores in lease-management.
The CGT was present at the entrance of the building where the meeting of the group’s shareholders was held, at the “Docks de Paris” in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), to demand “from now on the reopening of negotiations on salaries”, she explained in a press release.
“We are here to denounce the policy of the company which tends to precarious the employees with the hiring-management”, then declared the CGT group delegate Philippe Allard, during the traditional session of questions from the shareholders. These employees “lose after 15 months the benefits and salaries” that other Carrefour employees receive, he recalled. He demanded that “all employees be treated in the same way”.
And with high inflation, “the majority of the group’s employees have been below the Smic since May 1, 2022”, he assured. “There are not at all half of Carrefour employees who are under the hourly minimum wage, it would be contrary to the law and to the history built by the Carrefour group”, replied Alexandre Bompard.