AstraZeneca has promised to increase its dividend by 7 per cent this year, ahead of a key shareholder vote on pay for its long-standing chief executive Pascal Soriot.
In a statement on Thursday, the UK-based pharmaceutical company said that it would pay a $3.10-per-share dividend for 2024, 20 cents above the 2023 payout, “underlining the company’s confidence in its performance and cash generation”.
Shareholders will vote later today on a plan to raise Soriot’s pay by £1.8mn to a maximum of £18.7mn in 2024.
The move has been criticised by shareholder advisers Glass Lewis and ISS but welcomed by some major shareholders, with Rajiv Jain, chief investment officer at GQG Partners, saying Soriot is “massively underpaid”.