the times | Monday April 4 2022 33
Business
poor company performance and a lack
of disclosure of goals, the annual bonus
paid out at maximum”.
Carnival is listed in New York and in
London, where Carnival plc is a
member of the FTSE 250. It suspended
dividends in 2020 after the pandemic
caused a collapse in its share price. Last
year it reported a net loss of $9.5 billion.
ISS said that Carnival also had
changed its equity awards so that they
were “now entirely in time-vested
equity”. Glass Lewis and the Invest-
ment Association also have raised con-
cerns, The Sunday Times reported.
A Carnival spokesman insisted that
the figures in its market filings “do not
represent what our CEO actually
received in any given year”, saying that
grants declared in 2021 would not pay
out for two years and “can be reduced or
forfeited altogether based on company
performance and results”.
He said that Donald’s “realised com-
pensation” in 2021 came to $4.1 million,
down from $10.5 million in 2020 and
from $14.9 million in 2019.
“Annually, by design, 87 per cent of
Arnold Donald’s annual compensation
is ‘at-risk’, aligned with the company’s
performance and shareholder return.”
Joint bosses check into hotel
company that owns Claridge’s
Jessica Newman
The company behind some of London’s
top luxury hotels has appointed joint
chief executives as part of a shake-up.
Maybourne, which owns Claridge’s,
The Connaught and The Berkeley in
London, has named Marc Socker and
Gianluca Muzzi as joint-chief execu-
tives with immediate effect.
The hotels group has been run by
Paddy McKillen, the Irish property
tycoon, through a management con-
tract and that continues until the end of
the year.
McKillen, 66, fought a multimillion-
pound legal battle for control of the
hotels with the Barclay brothers, the
media, retail and property tycoons.
That ended in 2015 when the Qatar-
owned Constellation Hotels bought
control of Maybourne and retained
McKillen as an adviser.
In a message to Maybourne staff, the
directors of the company said: “This
change reflects the beginning of a new
strategic direction for Maybourne,
where the company will focus on the
creation of a global ultra-luxury brand
while continuing to enhance the
quality of each individual asset.
“We believe that, with the correct
strategic approach and support, you,
our talented team, and our increasing
group of prestige properties, May-
bourne will become globally renowned
for providing the most exciting, tailor-
made and unforgettable experiences to
our guests. We are truly excited by this
shared future mission.”
Socker, 45, has worked in hotel fund
management for the past 15 years, while
Muzzi, 52, has worked in property
investment banking, with stints at
Deutsche Bank and DWS Group.
Socker and Muzzi were appointed
directors at Maybourne, which also
owns the The Maybourne Beverly Hills,
in November, according to Companies
House filings.
The week ahead
tomorrow
All the big bookmakers have, to
varying degrees, sought to reinvent
themselves as purveyors of
entertainment to the masses. With
regulators cracking down on
gambling — Britain, for example, is
in the final throes of a review —
operators are rewriting their safer
gambling manuals and are trying to
distance themselves from some of
the nefarious activities of yore.
To reinforce the change, in 2020
GVC Holdings changed its name to
Entain and increasingly is
eschewing big-ticket punters and
aiming at those who like a modest
flutter for fun. Under Jette Nygaard-
Andersen, its chief executive, Entain
has also expanded its technology
arsenal to bring innovation to bear
on its customer base.
What Entain is investing in bears
little relation to its Ladbrokes and
Coral betting shops on the high
street — and sometimes very little
to gambling. Think esports and
immersive experiences.
Not that Entain is abandoning
gambling, as its first-quarter trading
update will show. Its challenges will
be in evidence as the group reports
tough trading compared with last
year’s strong lockdown trading and
a fall in European revenues because
of regulatory moves. Investec is
forecasting a high-single-digit to
double-digit fall in digital revenues,
with better performances from retail
and the American business.
Jette Nygaard-Andersen, 53, has
boosted Entain’s technology arsenal
A pre-close update
from HomeServe is
expected to trail a
rebound in profits,
before the publication
of the the emergency
home repairs group’s
full-year results in
May. Analysts have
forecast a pre-tax
profit of £177 million,
up from £47.2 million
the year before, when
the decision to write
off the value of its UK
customer relationship
management system
punched a hole in the
bottom line. Trading
figures could be
overshadowed by any
update on whether
takeover interest from
Brookfield, the
Canadian property
fund, has translated
into a formal approach.
Finals DP Eurasia,
Next Fifteen
Communications,
Property Franchise
Group, Quixant,
SourceBio
International
Trading updates
HomeServe, Moonpig
thursday
wednesday
friday
Despite a growing consumer trend
towards veganism, Hilton Food
Group is expected to report healthy
annual results. The FTSE 250
meat producer started out
as a supplier for Tesco
and still produces
2.75 million packets of
beef and lamb in the
UK, but it has since
diversified to 13
markets and has
5,400 staff globally.
Despite
uncertainties during
the pandemic, Hilton
has remained bullish
about acquisitions,
snapping up stakes in Dalco,
Fairfax Meadow and Agito that
analysts have credited with
expanding into new markets and
products, such as smoked salmon. In
January the business issued a robust
trading statement after a double-
digit sales increase in Australia and
flat growth in Europe.
Hilton has faced tough
comparisons with 2020,
when sales boomed
because more meals
were eaten at home
during lockdown.
Analysts expect an
18 per cent rise in
sales from
£2.77 billion a year
ago to £3.23 billion,
while adjusted profits
are set to show a
marginal improvement
from £61 million to
£64.5 million.
Interims Applied Graphene
Materials
Finals Epwin, Hilton Food
Trading updates Hyve, Imperial
Brands, Topps Tiles
Shareholders in CMC Markets, the
financial bets company, will be
looking out for any update on plans
to break up the business, as well as a
start date for its planned UK share
trading platform. Lord Cruddas,
founder and chief executive, has
previously stated his preference to
separate the leveraged City bets
business from the fast-growing and
more highly rated broking business.
He has signalled previously net
operating profits for the year to
March of £250 million to
£280 million. CMC shares have been
given a fillip by the recent volatility
in oil and commodity prices, which
usually spurs City wagers.
Trading updates CMC Markets,
Ferrexpo, Foresight
After a year of sustained upgrades,
it is difficult to judge if Robert
Walters can keep up momentum.
Investors will wonder if the recruiter
will be able to match last year’s
performance, with operating profit
at a record level of £54 million as it
benefited from companies growing
more confident about long-term
hiring. Robert Walters, the group’s
boss, has said that while the jobs
market is strong and wage inflation
on the rise, the company is very
aware of the present political and
macroeconomic uncertainties.
Interims Tracsis
Finals Attraqt
Trading updates Entain, Polar
Capital Global Financials Trust,
Robert Walters
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Khatri and his colleagues are trying to
move the dial on either side, inviting
British companies on trade missions
and presenting American investors
with pitch decks that bang the drum for
specific regions throughout the UK.
“We could be speaking to a US inves-
tor in X industry, ” he said. “They could
be going to the southeast and, you
know, that’s a bit rinse, repeat. Just go
and do it. But actually, if there’s an inter-
est in getting them to other parts of the
UK, that’s where we step in.
“Most US investors know the south-
east and London very well. They don’t
know Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester,
Glasgow, Cardiff, as well. It’s our job to
try to educate.”
Catching the attention of the biggest
players, with the deepest pockets, is no
mean feat in a market with 50 states to
consider before they even look over-
seas. The UK government, like some of
the businesses it tries to assist, can find
it challenging to “cut through”.
Once their attention had been cap-
tured, however, Khatri claimed inves-
tors were “really struck” by “how
aggressive we are being” to attract their
capital. “We’re not being passive, just
building on the fact that we are one of
the most heavily invested economies in
the world. It is a global competition.”
beyond Big Apple
to other areas of America, such as Austin, Texas, bottom right, that are having new life breathed into them by staff relocating
GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY