Boohoo shareholders kick back over ‘outrageous’ bonuses

Boohoo faces a shareholder revolt due to a planned £1 million in executive bonuses, after making substantial losses throughout the year.

The UK-based retailer faced backlash for the bonuses outlined in its annual report, despite failing to meet financial targets.

Several of its shareholders have planned to vote against planned bonuses for co-founders Carol Kane and Mahmud Kamani, and CEO John Lyttle.

The bonuses consist of £300,000 in cash as well as £700,000 in Boohoo shares. This follows news that Boohoo’s losses increased to almost £160 million earlier this month, due to high inflation and a downturn in consumer demand.

Sales were down 17% to £1.46 billion in the 12 months to 29 February, which the group said was due to its increased focus on profitability combined with challenging market conditions.

The online retailer, which was founded in Manchester in 2006, cut more than 1,000 jobs in the last year, due to an 11% decline in the number of active visitors to its site, each of them spending less and visiting less frequently.

Stephen Morana, Boohoo’s finance director, said the group had substantially reduced investment in brands including Oasis, Warehouse, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis, several of which are now sold through Debenhams rather than their websites.

Boohoo wrote off £22.4 million across those brands, having bought Wallis and Dorothy Perkins for £25 million out of the collapse of Philip Green’s Arcadia in 2021.

According to The Sunday Times, one of Boohoo’s shareholders described the payouts as “outrageous”, adding: “I have never seen proposals for a new long-term scheme that hasn’t been discussed with shareholders.”