Yahoo Finance GSK chief shrugs off concerns that FTSE bosses are not paid enough
GSK chief Dame Emma Walmsley has downplayed concerns that British companies are failing to compete with US-style executive pay packages.
The pharma boss insisted she was “very well paid” when asked about London’s rewards system, which has come under increasing pressure amid a flood of firms leaving for the US.
Dame Emma received a pay bump of 50pc last year to take her total package to £12.7m.
While this is significantly higher than the average GSK employee, who earns around £55,000, it lags well behind that of rival drug chief Sir Pascal Soriot.
The AstraZeneca boss was recently handed a new pay package worth £18.7m after shareholders voted through an increase from £16.9m the previous year.
Sir Pascal, who is the best-paid FTSE 100 chief executive, has argued life sciences companies need to be more competitive on pay to avoid talent leaving for the US and China.
Speaking last week, Sir Pascal addressed his own pay hike, which he said was linked to ensuring his eventual successor at the company was “compensated competitively”.
However, in contrast to these warnings, Dame Emma said she felt “really good” about GSK’s ability to recruit and retain “the very best people”, including its leadership team.
She said: “We make sure that, at GSK, the culture of our company, the prospects, the career development opportunities are really as attractive and globally competitive as they possibly can be.”
That is despite US-based rival Pfizer handing chief Albert Bourla a 36pc pay rise to $33m (£26m) last year.
The debate over executive pay has grown increasingly prominent in recent months, as questions mount over whether a restrictive pay policy is harming British companies’ ability to compete with US counterparts.
David Schwimmer, the head of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) said in February that the UK should look at emulating US-style pay packages or risk losing its status as a global financial centre.
This was before shareholders last week agreed to more than double his maximum pay to as much as £13m.
Medical device maker Smith & Nephew was hit with a shareholder revolt over pay at its annual general meeting on Wednesday.
43pc of those voting rejected plans to increase chief executive Deepak Nath’s pay package by $2.6m to $11.8m.
The London-listed company has defended the increase, saying UK pay levels are “not sustainable” and are behind high executive turnover.
It said on Wednesday that it would continue to engage with shareholders and proxy advisers.
Dame Emma’s comments coincided with GSK’s first quarter results, during which it raised profit forecasts for the year on higher shingles and RSV vaccine sales.
Overall, it recorded revenues of £7.4bn for the first three months of the year.
Shares in GSK have risen 17pc over the last year as the company has bolstered its drugs pipeline.
