Female employees 'scarce' in Aim-listed companies

News Article - Tuesday, February 27, 2007

filed under: Business

Companies listed on the alternative investment market (Aim) have very few female board members, it has been revealed.

Research conducted by Deloitte found that 97 per cent of Aim-listed firms had no female board members, while 95 per cent of board members in FTSE SmallCap businesses were found to be male.

In addition, those sitting on the boards of Aim companies are, on average, younger than their counterparts within the FTSE market, with a third of executive directors being under 45 compared with 25 per cent in the FTSE SmallCap market.

Salaries within the smaller companies were shown to have risen at a faster pace over the last year, with the median rise being 9.2 per cent for Aim firms and seven per cent for FTSE SmallCap businesses.

Bill Cohen, remuneration specialist and partner at Deloitte, said: "Remuneration trends tend to start with the larger FTSE 100 companies and filter down to smaller companies over a period of one or two years.

"The salary for the top full-time executive of the largest FTSE 100 company is likely to be around six times the salary of the same role at a company with a market capitalisation of around £100 million," he said.

Late last year, Aim executives experienced a 27 per cent rise in salary to £174,000, with finance directors receiving £110,000 after a 15 per cent increase.

Add to del.icio.us | Digg this story