Investors against plural directors

Investors want executives to limit the number of directorships they hold to give them enough time to do their jobs properly.

According to research by 3i, the venture capital group, and Top Pay Research, a remuneration consultancy, investors want directors to hold four or fewer positions if their responsibilities are non-executive and two if one of their roles is executive.

For non-executive chairman they believe that only two roles can be conducted effectively. The survey also found that fees for non-executive chairmen at large companies jumped 18% last year to 3,018 per day. Non-executive pay in general rose between 5% and 15%.

Peter Brown, chairman of Top Pay Research, said more than 70% of leading investors told the survey that companies should be pressed to hire directors with only a small portfolio of interests.