8:12 am, May 21, 2021
Marshall Motor Holdings boss Daksh Gupta was given a ringing endorsement of his leadership with a 100 per cent backing by shareholders at the company’s annual meeting yesterday (May 20).
A massive 82 per cent of shareholders voted – roughly 64m shares – and they all said they wanted him back as group chief executive.
Gupta told Car Dealer: ‘I’m very proud of that. I’m in my 14th year, so I’m grateful to the shareholders. When you get 100 per cent support and at that very high turnout, it doesn’t get any better at all.
‘I’m delighted for the support, delighted that they trust me for three more years, and hopefully when I’m in year 17 they’ll trust me for another three years!
‘I’m absolutely delighted at the trust and confidence that they’ve shown in me and I’m very grateful for their support.’
There were just six resolutions and also among them was the remuneration policy, which was also approved by 100 per cent.
That sees Gupta receiving a total of £509,600 a year and fellow executive director Richard Blumberger, who is the chief financial officer, on £286,700.
The remaining four resolutions – appointing BDO LLP as auditor, the auditor’s remuneration, amendments to the performance share plan and the authority to make market purchases of own shares – were equally overwhelmingly supported as well, said Gupta.
The lowest was 99 per cent – and that’s simply believed to have been caused by the wrong box accidentallly being ticked.
The meeting followed the vow by Gupta that Marshall would repay all the furlough and retail rates cash it had received for 2021.
It was convened at Marshall Volkswagen in Milton Keynes, with voting taking place electronically or by proxy because of the restrictions on indoor public gatherings.
The notice of the meeting was signed by interim chairman and senior independent director Alan Ferguson, who paid tribute to Richard Parry-Jones, who was chairman when he died in a tractor accident in April.
Ferguson wrote: ‘It is with great sadness that I sign this letter following the recent untimely death of Richard Parry-Jones.
‘Richard was a wonderful chairman of your company, a great mentor to many and he will be very sadly missed by your board.’
