Energy firm Amerisur bows to investors’ anger over chiefs’ pay

Shake-up: Amerisur, the energy firm chaired by former England cricket boss Giles Clarke, is conducting a “complete review” of executive pay

Simon English, Financial Editor @SimonEngStand3 January 2017

Amerisur, the energy firm chaired by former England cricket boss Giles Clarke, is conducting a “complete review” of executive pay following anger from shareholders.

The oil and gas explorer that focuses on South America ran into trouble last year over share awards granted to chairman Clarke, once head of the England and Wales Cricket Board, chief executive John Wardle and finance director Nick Harrison.

While those options will be retained, Clarke has now said he won’t be taking any more.

The AIM-listed firm told the market on Tuesday that it will hire a “respected third-party remuneration consultancy” to overhaul its pay deals.

It won’t make any share option awards this year apart from to some staff in Colombia.

There is also a board shake-up that sees directors Victor Valdovinos and George Woodcock retire.

Two new non-executive directors are being sought.

The shares peaked at 66p in August 2014. They slipped 1% earlier to 26.4p.