The ‘shareholder spring’ is bouncing its way across Europe, with French share-voting advisory firm ProxInvest yesterday complaining about the €16m bonus for the Publicis Groupe chief. Now the focus is shifting across the Alps towards Italy.

Shareholder returns from 38 of the largest Italian firms fell 19% last year, but the average pay packet for the chief executives of these firms increased by over 14%, according to research from Frontis Governance, an independent proxy advisory firm based in Rome.