KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): Institutional investors such as the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) have voiced their unhappiness with the remuneration received by Sapura Energy Bhd's president and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin, which totalled RM71.92 million for the financial year ended Jan 31, 2018 (FY18), according to the Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG).

The amount is equivalent to 1.22% of the group's FY18 revenue of RM5.89 billion.

"We are seeing a very strong shareholder activism among the institutional funds, particularly when the EPF mooted an idea to oppose Shahril's re-election as the company director," MSWG general manager Lya Rahman told reporters on the sidelines of Sapura Energy's seventh annual general meeting (AGM) here today.

"This is the first time that we are seeing an active stance taken by the institutional funds," she added.

There were six resolutions that were tabled for shareholders' approval at Sapura Energy's AGM.

"Of particular concern is Resolutions 1, 2, 3 and 4. While we do not agree with EPF's move to oppose Resolution 1, we nevertheless agree to oppose Resolutions 2 and 3," Lya added.

Resolution 1 is related to the re-election of Shahril as eligible director, while Resolutions 2 and 3 are related to the re-election of two independent directors, Mohamed Rashdi Mohamed Ghazali and Datuk Muhamad Noor Hamid.

"We oppose the re-election of the independent directors because every year we keep seeing the same thing happening, especially with the excessive director remuneration," Lya added.

According to data from Annual Report 2018, Shahril, who owns a 17.44% stake in Sapura Energy, was paid a salary and related emoluments of RM7.24 million.

In addition, Shahril was also awarded with a RM55 million bonus, which was based on prior year's group performance and achievements, along with RM9.34 million in defined contribution plan and RM348,000 in various benefits-in-kind.

"We are trying to find the logic of awarding the executive director with an excessive package at a time when the company is bleeding losses. We think there was no proper governance taking place," Lya lamented.

In FY18, Sapura Energy posted a net loss of RM2.5 billion on revenue of RM5.89 billion.

Currently, Sapura Energy's AGM, which started since 10am, is still ongoing.

At 2.35pm today, Sapura Energy rose 1.68% or 1 sen to 60.5 sen with 83 million shares done.