Tesco, once a beacon of British retail, reached its nadir in April when it reported the biggest retail loss in UK history.
It‘s been over a year since the big four grocer drafted in former Unilever boss ‘Drastic Dave‘, who had no idea just how much he would have his work cut out for him. Well, at least Tesco made sure he was well incentivised. Within his first six months Lewis had been paid £4.1m, made up of a £570,000 basic salary, benefits totalling £97,000, pension payments of £143,000 and £3.32m in bonus payments he‘d forfeited when he left the consumer goods giant. Tesco‘s remuneration committee had deemed it “appropriate” to buy out the bonuses that Lewis was due, you see.
In his first 12 months with the supermarket, Lewis has trimmed a lot of fat off Tesco and is slowly starting to restore faith in shareholders and customers alike. The city awaits the retailer‘s next set of full-year results.
Veebs Sabharwal and Philip Gallagher
