Whitehaven takes strike on exec pay with 40.6% opposed

The news: Shareholders in Whitehaven Coal have delivered a first strike over executive pay its AGM.

The numbers: More than 40% of shareholder votes opposed the remuneration report. Whitehaven's board faces a spill next year if a second strike is levelled against the board. A separate resolution to award incentive payments to managing director Paul Flynn suffered a 38.5% protest vote. A third resolution to re-elect Ray Zage was opposed by 24.6% of votes.

The context: Activist investor Bell Rock Capital Management had urged shareholders to reject the remuneration report amid concerns it would encourage Flynn to steer the company towards buying more mines, the Australian Financial Review reported. Bell Rock was permitted to vote in today's AGM after the Takeovers Panel rejected a bid by Whitehaven to disqualify the shareholder for misrepresenting its stake in the company. Bell Rock has been fighting a months-long campaign against Whitehaven's acquisition of two BHP metallurgical coal mines, Daunia and Blackwater.