Activist hedge funds have spearheaded a shareholder revolt over government pay and appointments at Wagamama proprietor The Restaurant Group, the most recent skirmish in a marketing campaign pushing for a shake-up and partial sale of the struggling informal eating operator.

Simply over 45 per cent of votes solid at TRG’s annual common assembly on Tuesday opposed the corporate’s pay report, which features a £675,000 wage for chief government Andy Hornby as a part of a remuneration package deal that permits for as much as a 150 per cent share award on high of his wage, no matter share efficiency.

Hornby’s re-election to the board was additionally opposed by about 16 per cent of votes solid, whereas nearly 1 / 4 voted towards the reappointment of chair Ken Hanna and Zoe Morgan, the director in control of the corporate’s remuneration committee, respectively.

The revolt on the AGM is the most recent growth in an more and more acrimonious battle over the longer term route of TRG, which began earlier this yr with Hong Kong-based fund Oasis Administration going public about its shareholding within the firm and complaining about TRG’s ailing share worth.

Since then, a number of different funds have purchased up inventory and gone additional than Oasis by calling for TRG’s operations — which additionally embody Italian-American diner Frankie & Benny’s and pub chain Brunning & Worth — to be damaged up and offered off.

Activists management between 15 and 20 per cent of the inventory, in line with Hanna — chief amongst them is Oasis, which is the second-biggest shareholder with a 12.3 per cent stake. Activists Irenic Capital and Coltrane are additionally among the many top-20 shareholders.

Talking on the assembly, Hanna described the activist funds as “a vocal minority”. Fund supervisor Columbia Threadneedle, TRG’s largest shareholder, has publicly backed administration. “Our job as a board is to try to . . . preserve everybody joyful. It’s by no means simple however we’ll navigate our method by,” stated Hanna.

Nevertheless, Hanna signalled that administration could be receptive to among the activists’ calls for, saying that “in the end, we’ll make some public bulletins on our technique”.

TRG’s share worth is down greater than 60 per cent since its final fairness increase in March 2021, because the informal eating operator struggles within the face of rising prices and worries over a shopper slowdown.

Adjusted pre-tax earnings throughout the group stood at £20.3mn final yr, up 22 per cent on a yr earlier when the enterprise was affected by pandemic restrictions. Nevertheless, like-for-like gross sales at Frankie & Benny’s, which in March introduced the closure of 35 websites, fell 4 per cent yr on yr.

However Hanna didn’t silence his detractors. Orkun Kilic, founding father of Berry Avenue Capital, which owns about 1 per cent of the inventory, informed the Monetary Occasions that the board “has no respect for shareholder and stakeholder worth”.

Kilic stated a sale of a few of TRG’s belongings was “so clearly wanted” however argued that administration had been “conflicted inside themselves as a result of they consider their seats and they consider their egos”.

Daniel Wosner, managing director at Oasis, stated he was “very happy” that the shareholder base had “come out in pressure to share their discontent [over executive pay]”.

However Kilic, who beforehand undertook an activist marketing campaign alongside Oasis centered on producer Premier Meals, stated he feared there might be “impasse” between activists and administration except an asset sale occurred quickly.

TRG acknowledged the “important” shareholder revolt in an announcement, saying the corporate would proceed to seek the advice of with traders to search out an “applicable resolution” over pay. “We stay firmly centered on executing our margin accretion plan,” it added.