Morrisons is braced for a shareholder protest over the £3m payout received by the grocer’s former chief executive, Dalton Philips.

It is expected there will be a substantial vote against Morrisons’ remuneration policies at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday, according to The Sunday Times.

The Investment Management Association has issued an amber alert on the pay report, its second highest warning.

Meanwhile, shareholder advisory group PIRC has recommended shareholders abstain from voting on the report.

Philips doubled his pay to £2.1m last year after earning a bonus despite sales and profits consistently slumping at the grocer under his leadership.

He received an additional £1.1m payoff when he was sacked in January following the supermarket’s struggles.

Philips has since been replaced by former Tesco executive David Potts, who has announced a number of drastic changes including the axing of 700 head office jobs.

Morrisons’ AGMs have become tempestuous affairs of late owing to the company’s difficulties. At last year’s AGM, Morrisons founder Sir Ken Morrison labelled the grocer’s strategy as “bullshit”.