Aberdeen Asset Management suffered a substantial shareholder rebellion at its general meeting yesterday, with almost a third of the company's owners refusing to back the pay packages awarded to its directors last year.

During 2010, Aberdeen's chief executive Martin Gilbert took home a combined salary-and-bonus package worth £3.75m, including a £3.3m bonus. In 2009 he earned £1.9m. There were also big increases in rewards for deputy chief executive Andrew Laing and finance director Bill Rattray.