The board of fast-food operator Restaurant Brands NZ has asked shareholders to approve an 18 per cent boost to its pool for directors' fees.
The company said the increased fee pool would help attract and retain high-calibre talent needed to run a more complicated business after its recent Australian expansion.
Shareholders will vote on July 22 in Auckland on lifting the pool for fees covering five directors to $400,000 a year from $340,000, said the Auckland-based company's notice of meeting. The rise would allow the chairman's fees to rise by $25,000 to $125,000 and lift individual directors' fees by $5000 to $60,000. It would also allow for the audit and risk, and remuneration committee chairs to be paid an additional fee of $10,000 and $5000, respectively.
"Directors believe that with a much more complex business following the Australian acquisition and the increasing need to attract high-calibre talent to the board (from both sides of the Tasman) a fee increase ... is necessary," the company said. Restaurant Brands took the unusual step of publishing an excerpt from a report commissioned from remuneration consultants Strategic Pay, which recommended director fees increase to between $65,000 and $70,000, and the chair's fee rise to a range of $130,000 to $140,000. It also suggested the separate committee chair fees that were adopted.
"In our view, the recommended ranges represent appropriate competitive and median-oriented levels for publicly listed companies in the NZ market," the report said.
