WHAT is going on at Palace Capital, the AIM-listed property company which has seen fit to double its chairman's salary even as net asset value has shrunk and the company has been hit by a boardroom exodus?

I understand its AGM later this month promises to be a heated affair, with restive shareholders keen to question Steven Owen, interim executive chairman, about alleged conflicts of interest, his financial incentives for the sale of the company's assets and the logistics of the annual meeting itself.

"He stands to earn an additional £1m in a role where as chairman he is already earning £221,000 in an underperforming company where shareholders are losing," said one institutional investor.

Palace Capital's market capitalisation stood yesterday at less than £100m. Its directors should abandon their delusions of grandeur and focus on delivering in the interests of its shareholders.

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper