Justin King and Marc Bolland, the respective CEOs of retail giants Sainsbury‘s and Marks & Spencer (M&S), saw their annual earnings drop this year, it was confirmed today.
Annual reports published by the companies show that Bolland received a significant cut in remuneration after M&S reported its first decline in full-year profits in three years, while King saw his overall pay reduced despite Sainsbury‘s outperforming rivals with a 7.1 per cent profits rise.
Perhaps in a nod to the austere times being experienced by many of his customers, King agreed to slight falls in his annual bonus & deferred share award and a sizable decline in earnings from his long term incentive plan, meaning his overall pay dropped to £3.37 million from £3.7 million the previous year.
The Sainsbury‘s boss did see his base salary rise from £900,000 per annum to £920,000 in the full year to March 17th 2012, but shareholders should be satisfied with his performance after underlying basic earning per share at the business increased six per cent to 28.1p.
Commenting on the full-year period, King said: “Our market share is its highest for nearly a decade, driven by underlying market beating like-for-like sales growth of 2.1 per cent excluding fuel.
“We are confident that our investment plans will drive further growth, while contributing to additional improvements in returns.”
Bolland saw an even greater reduction in his overall earnings in the year, down from £4.38 million in 2011 to £1.68 million in the year ending March 31st 2012.
There was some disquiet last year among some shareholders at the size of Bolland‘s remuneration so soon after taking over at M&S, and this year, despite being able to receive a maximum of £3.4 million in bonuses and share options, the retail boss was only awarded £332,000 as a bonus.
M&S reported last month a one per cent drop in underlying profit before tax for its most recent full-year period, as like-for-like sales remained flat year-on-year due to weak trading in its general merchandise product areas.
