Additional statutory and other disclosures
The Board evaluated the performance of the Committee and the Committee carried out a self assessment of its performance.
Unilever's share performance relative to broad-based equity indices
The UK Companies Act 1985 (schedule 7A) requires us to show Unilever's relative share performance, based on Total Shareholder Return, against a holding of shares in a broad-based equity index for the last five years. The Remuneration Committee has decided to show Unilever's performance against two indices, namely the FTSE 100 Index, London, and the Euronext AEX Index, Amsterdam as these are the most generally used indices in the UK and the Netherlands, where we have our principal listings.
Five-Year Historical TSR Performance
Growth in the value of a hypothetical £100 holding over five years FTSE 100 comparison based on 30 trading day average values
Growth in the value of a hypothetical investment over five years AEX comparison based on 30 day average values
Role and responsibilities
The Committee is responsible for making proposals to the Boards on the reward policy for Executive Directors. It is also responsible for setting individual reward packages for Executive Directors and for monitoring and approving all share-based incentive arrangements. The Committee meets at least three times a year and, during 2007, it met on five occasions.
Structure and role
During 2007 David Simon served as Chairman of the Committee with Jeroen van der Veer and Jean-Cyril Spinetta as Non-Executive members. Jean-Cyril Spinetta stepped down as a Director in September 2007. Michael Treschow was appointed a member of the Committee on 6 February 2008.
Advice and assistance
The Committee does not formally retain remuneration consultants. It seeks professional advice from external advisers as and when required. During 2007, the Committee sought advice from Towers Perrin (an independent firm of human resources specialists) on market data, reward trends and performance-related pay. Towers Perrin also provides general consultancy advice to Unilever group companies on employee rewards, pension, communications and other human resource matters.
The Group Secretary attends all Committee meetings and advises on matters of corporate governance.
The Group Chief Executive can be invited to attend Committee meetings to provide his own insights to the Committee on business objectives and the individual performance of his direct reports. Naturally, he does not attend when his own remuneration is being discussed.
During 2007, the Non-Executive Chairman could, in his role as Chairman of the Boards, also attend meetings.
The Report has been approved by the Boards. Signed on behalf of the Boards by Sven Dumoulin (Group Secretary).
