Sainsbury family under attack

THE Sainsbury family are under attack from investors who claim they have taken a lily-livered stance against former chairman Sir Peter Davis's £2.4m bonus.

Big City shareholders are annoyed that family shareholders have refused to get involved in their protests over pay.

Many investors plan to vote against the remuneration report at next Monday's annual meeting, but the supermarkets chain reckons it can count on the support of the Sainsbury family, which owns 38% of the shares. This backing is likely to prevent rejection of the resolution.

One City institution said: 'The family own more than a third of the shares. What are they doing? They could put lots of pressure on the board.'

Judith Portrait, the custodian for Lord David Sainsbury's shares, is understood to prefer to make her views known quietly rather than by formal voting.

Sainsbury is being widely attacked for its incompetence over the whole pay issue. Not only did it misjudge the strength of opposition to Davis's payout, but it has also been dithering over the wording of the pay resolution.

It had hoped to remove the Davis issue from the shareholder vote, but lawyers realised this would be impossible with the annual meeting less than a week away.

In response, the National Association of Pension Funds is urging shareholders to reject the pay policy.