By Paul McBeth
The directors of casino operator SkyCity Entertainment will ask shareholders for a 37 percent pay-rise at next month’s annual meeting, adding to the queue of NZX 50 company boards asking for fatter fees.
Shareholders are being asked to sign off on lifting the pool for directors’ fee to $1.3 million from the current $950,000 pool to help fund the new deputy chair role, and give the rest of the board a pay-rise, it said in its notice of annual meeting.
If approved, it will lift the chairman’s annual fee by $50,000 to $250,000, introduce a $150,000 fee for the deputy, add $30,000 for each director to $120,000 and increase the fee for audit and risk and remuneration committee members to $15,000 from $10,000.
Added work and responsibilities assumed by directors of publicly-listed companies was increasing and the company “wishes to continue to attract and retain qualified, highly capable directors from a pan-Australasian talent pool for the purpose of driving value and maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance on behalf of shareholders,” it said.
SkyCity’s move follows similar requests from Nuplex Industries, Freightways, Hellaby and Skellerup. It last increased the pool of fees for directors in 2008, lifting them by $200,000.
In August, the company reported a 21 percent increase in annual earnings, beating analysts’ expectations, with its Auckland gaming machine revenue hitting pre-global financial crisis levels at $206.2 million.
SkyCity hopes to add to its Auckland offerings with a $350 million convention centre, and it will update shareholders at the annual meeting in November.
The gaming company has agreement in principle from the government for more gaming machines and an extension of its licence past its existing 2021 date in return to footing the entire bill of the centre.
The stock fell 0.6 percent to $3.41 in trading today, and has gained 5.9 percent this year.
(BusinessDesk)
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