Persimmon shareholders have revolted against the “grossly excessive” and “totally and utterly unjustifiable” £75m bonus  handed to the housebuilder’s chief executive, Jeff Fairburn.

Some 64% of shareholders failed to support the huge payout and just 36% voted in favour of the housebuilder’s renumeration policy, although the pay policy was approved because nearly a third of shareholders abstained from the vote.

The words of Euan Stirling, the head of stewardship at Aberdeen Standard Investments, one of Persimmon’s biggest shareholders, sum up investors’ concerns:

“Regardless of any moral or societal duties, company directors have a legal responsibility to act in the best long-term interests of the company that employs them.

“Today’s remuneration results suggest that the executive directors at Persimmon have lost sight of that because the long-term success of the company is being endangered by the reputational damage associated with grossly excessive pay.”