Shareholders in UK retailer Marks & Spencer were divided yesterday over the payout to be handed to incoming chief executive Marc Bolland, with some expressing distaste for such 'golden hellos', while the Wellcome Trust, one of the company's largest investors, offered its backing to the management.

Bolland, the current chief executive of supermarket chain Morrisons, has negotiated a package of up to £15m (€17m) to join the retailer in May. The £7.5m he will likely receive irrespective of performance, as a result of M&S agreeing to match what he would have been paid at Morrisons, is particularly controversial with some shareholders.