BP facing attacks from all sides over its plans for executive pay

OIL giant BP's executive pay plans will be back in the firing line at its annual general meeting in London on Thursday – a year after it faced a shareholder showdown over remuneration.

Lobby groups PIRC, the pension fund consultant, and the Association of British Insurers (ABI), have both raised concerns over BP's pay policy. The moves follow last year's fiery investor meeting, when BP saw around 38 per cent of shareholder votes made against its remuneration report.

BP largely kept salaries on hold in 2009, but the firm's recent annual report revealed that chief executive Tony Hayward still landed a 41 per cent hike in his total pay package.

Hayward took home 4 million in salary, cash bonus and share awards last year, up from 2.85m in 2008. BP said Hayward's variable performance-related pay increased from 1.5m to 2.1m last year, reflecting "the impressive achievements of the year and the turnaround of performance over the past three years".

However, the firm reported a steep fall in profits in 2009, down 45 per cent to $13.96 billion (9.2bn). PIRC is urging investors to oppose BP's report, calling the payouts "excessive". The group also hit out at the lack of transparency in BP's performance targets for long-term incentive scheme payouts.

The ABI, whose members control around 13 per cent of the stock market, has meanwhile issued an "amber" top alert over BP's pay plans, drawing investor attention to potential worries over BP's discretionary use of share-based bonus awards.

But the head of BP's remuneration committee, DeAnne Julius, has argued that the group's bonus targets were based around safety, staff and performance indicators – nearly all of which were exceeded, she said.

A raft of fresh data on the UK housing market on Tuesday could shine new light on the sector as economists warn the recovery may be running out of steam. An unsettled start to the year has taken the shine off hopes for a smooth upturn in property buying.

Falls in activity during the early part of this year were attributed to a combination of the bad weather in January and February and the end of the government's stamp duty holiday, which caused people buying lower value properties to rush through purchases.

Meanwhile, figures from the Bank of England last month showed the number of mortgages approved for house purchase fell for the third month in a row during February. And while data suggests a partial rebound in prices after the early slump, the rate of increase appears to be slowing.

Ed Stansfield, chief property economist at Capital Economics, said the mortgage approval figures show the market has "taken time for reflection if not run into the buffers". An indication of activity in the wake of the February downturn will come from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), which will give its figures on the housing market for March.

Stansfield predicts the survey will show a positive balance "but not dramatically so".

February's survey showed that more properties were put on the market, with the number of people selling rising quicker than the number of potential new buyers entering the market for the second consecutive month. This indicated that the previous shortage of properties, which has been seen as an important support for house prices, could be coming to an end.