The number of shareholder revolts over boardroom pay has halved this year, according to a new report.

Just four of the 73 FTSE 100 companies that have held their annual meetings so far this year saw rebellions, down from eight in the previous half-year, according to the research firm Indigo Governance.

It comes as leading firms look to boost how much their chief executives can be paid as they compete in what they say is an increasingly international market for top executives.

A typical FTSE 100 chief executive was handed £5.5 million in 2024, the latest year for which figures are available.

However, that is less than half the £12.2million paid on average last year to the boss of an S&P 500 firm in the US, according to pay advisory firm ISS Corporate. 

But the gap is closing as UK-based multinationals race to compete with their transatlantic peers by handing out ever more generous pay packages.

‘Shareholder concerns over excessive executive pay have not disappeared, but they certainly seem to have become less widespread,’ said Indigo Governance’s Bernadette Young.

‘This may reflect a more sympathetic approach and greater recognition from investors of the need to increase the competitiveness of executive remuneration when competing for talent with higher-paying US businesses,’ she added.

The biggest shareholder protest came at Smith & Nephew, where more than 40 per cent of voting investors rejected the medical device maker’s pay policy, which includes plans to raise the maximum boss Deepak Nath could earn to £9.5million.

Educational publisher Pearson, insurer Beazley and wealth manager Aberdeen also saw more than 20 per cent of votes cast against their executive pay plans.

But perhaps the most significant revolt this year fell just short of that threshold. 

At BP almost 18 per cent of shareholders voted against the re-election of Albert Manifold as chairman of the oil giant – just two months before he was sacked from the company by his fellow directors.