(Bloomberg) -- Wizz Air Holdings Plc shareholders approved a new bonus package for the chief executive officer, rewarding him for steering the low-cost carrier at a time of geopolitical challenges and widespread aircraft groundings.
The Budapest-based airline received 74% of votes in favor of changes to Jozsef Varadi’s pay package, while 63% of votes approved the directors’ remuneration policy, Wizz said on Wednesday in a statement following its annual general meeting. All resolutions were passed apart from one concerning the “disapplication of pre-emption rights in connection with an acquisition or specified capital investment.”
The remuneration proposals included a one-time restricted share award on October 1 which would be 300% of his £710,534 ($949,100) annual salary, according to notes accompanying its annual general meeting notice. Wizz will also create a long-term incentive plan for Varadi from fiscal 2026, which would be 500% of his salary, according to the AGM notice.
Last year, Wizz shareholders approved a two-year extension to a long-term bonus plan that would award Varadi £100 million if the company hit certain targets. Since then, the airline has faced a “parade of black swans” including the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine and the start of the Israel-Hamas war as well as the Pratt & Whitney engine issue that grounded some of its fleet and stunted growth, Stephen Johnson, the interim chair of the remuneration committee, wrote in the notice.
Varadi will continue to be eligible for the so-called Value Creation Plan which includes the £100 million bonus, but all payouts under the new proposals will be offset against any bonuses under the earlier plan, the committee said. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System said they’d vote against the updated pay proposal.
“The board will continue to consult with major shareholders on remuneration and wider governance matters,” Wizz said in the results.
Varadi is “by far the worst compensated CEO in the peer group and, absent action, he will remain in that untenable position,” Johnson said in the AGM notes. The new pay package would retain Varadi through the “challenging period” and motivate him to spur growth in the business, he said.
(Updates with AGM results.)
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