Tesco’s Philip Clarke waives annual bonus
PHILIP CLARKE, Tesco’s chief executive, said he would forgo his £372,000 annual bonus after the retailer’s weak UK performance last year prompted its first profit warning in 20 years.
“I decided at the beginning of the year that I would decline my annual bonus for 2012,” Clarke said in a statement yesterday.
“I wasn’t satisfied with the performance in the UK and I won’t take the bonus. I’m confident that we’re tackling the right issues.”
Clarke was paid a basic salary of over £1m last year and was awarded share options worth £2.7m during his first year on the job, according to the company’s annual report.
The supermarket giant also said yesterday its top 5,000 managers would receive a reduced annual bonus representing 16.9 per cent of their maximum entitlement. Executive directors will get 13.5 per cent of the maximum.
Overall, staff will share bonus pot of more than £110m.
Tesco shares have lost almost a quarter of their value this year after the supermarket group warned it needed to invest around £1bn in a bid to stem market share losses in Britain.
Clarke’s decision comes amid a wave of high profile investor revolts over boardroom pay at companies such as Barclays, Aviva, Inmarsat and Prudential in the so-called shareholder spring.