Over Quarter Of Bank Of Georgia Shareholders Vote Against Director Pay

LONDON (Alliance News) - Bank of Georgia Group PLC shareholders voiced their concerns about director pay Friday with over a quarter voting against the director remuneration report at the Georgian lender's annual general meeting.

At Friday's AGM, 26.4% of shareholders voted against the resolution, which represents 42.1 million votes. Over 9% of shareholders voted against approving the director remuneration policy.

Bank of Georgia said it "recognises that some shareholders have concerns on this matter".

"During early 2019 we engaged with shareholders regarding remuneration arrangements, including the salary package for the chief executive, and the company's major shareholders were generally supportive. We further note that shareholders approved the new directors' remuneration policy with 90.9% votes cast in favour," the lender added.

Bank of Georgia said it will "further engage" to "ensure shareholder views are fully understood".

Several of the bank's board faced some minority backlash too, with four non-executive directors receiving over 5% against re-election.

Neil Janin saw 8.5% of shareholders vote against his re-election, with 6.2% voting against Alasdair Breach, 5.2% against Tamaz Georgadze and 5.3% against Cecil Quillen.

On Tuesday, the lender reported a rise in profit and income, as the bank's loan book expanded sharply and its investment management arm also grew.

In the three months to March 31, the Georgian lender reported an 11% increase in pretax profit to GEL122.7 million, about GBP34.6 million, from GEL110.9 million, about GBP31.2 million, the year before.

The lender's net interest income increased 1.5% in the quarter to GEL182.9 million from GEL180.2 million in the corresponding period the year prior.

Bank of Georgia's loan book jumped 22% year-on-year to GEL9.57 billion compared to GEL7.82 billion at the end of the first period last year. The lender ended the period with a non-performing loans to gross loans ratio of 3.3%.

Shares in Bank of Georgia were down 0.7% Friday at 1,631.00 pence each.