SABMiller chief exec’s earnings drop 17 per cent ahead of megabrew deal
The chief executive of British drinks giant SABMiller has taken an almost 17 per cent hit to his pay packet after failing to deliver on share price earnings last year.
Alan Clark's total remuneration fell from £7.1m last year to £5.9m this year, according to the company's annual report, which was released today.
A failure to reach targets on the company's long-term three- and five-year incentive schemes, where the value of awards dropped from £4.4m in 2015 to £2.4m this year, was behind the fall.
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Clark, who has been at SABMiller's helm since April 2013, received a £600,000 hike in his annual bonus, however, which rose from £1.1m to £1.7m. His pay comes from multiple streams that are judged separately, including a base salary, the long-term incentives scheme and an annual bonus – this is why some segments that make up his overall earnings can rise in a given year while others fall.
Annual earnings per share at the brewer on a reported basis – which includes currency fluctuations – posted a six per cent decline this year. Although on a constant currency basis EPS rose 12 per cent, executive pay packets require earnings to have improved on a reported basis.
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Profit before tax fell 16 per cent to $4.07bn (£2.83bn), while revenues fell 10 per cent, particularly on the back of currency headwinds amid a strengthening dollar.
SABMiller is in the process of preparing for AB InBev's £71bn takeover deal, which was agreed last October and will be the largest ever British corporate merger.
Clark has previously described the megabrew deal as a "distraction" for the company, under which a number of SABMiller's well-performing European brands including Peroni, Grolsch and Pilsner Urquell, have been or are in the process of being sold off to wave the deal through.