Tesco tears up pay rules to hand boss Dave Lewis £6.4m including £4.8m in bonuses
Tesco boss Dave Lewis was paid £6.4million last year after the board boosted his bonus by removing Ocado from the supermarket’s ‘peer group’.
The chief executive, who is leaving later this year, received £4.8million in bonuses thanks in part to the performance of the grocer against its rivals.
But the pay committee decided that Ocado was no longer a peer due to its focus on the sale of its robotic warehouses and technology.
Tesco chief exec, who is leaving later this year, received £4.8m in bonuses as part of his £6.4m pay packet thanks in part to the performance of the grocer against its rivals
Before the change Tesco underperformed its rivals by 4.2 per cent over three years, but once Ocado was removed it outperformed the new peer group by 3.3 per cent.
Moving the goalposts, which usually only happens if rivals are delisted or taken over, pushed Lewis’s share bonus up by £1.6million.
The bumper payday brings his total earnings as chief executive of the firm to £29million since 2014. His pay this year was more than 300 times more than an average employee earning £21,000.
Overall, Tesco has handed out £6.1million of shares to executives as part of a 2019 bonus plan, according to a stock market announcement yesterday.
The grocer caused a row when it confirmed a £900million final dividend despite getting Government support designed to help firms through the pandemic.
Tesco has received £585million of business rates relief through a scheme set up to help the retail industry.
The annual report also revealed former chief executive Philip Clarke, who held the top job during the 2014 accounting scandal, had converted his final salary pension entitlement into a £10.7million lump sum.
The Tesco announcements come just two days after Sainsbury’s announced £1.8million of bonus payouts to senior staff less than a fortnight after deferring the dividend.
Outgoing chief executive Mike Coupe and his successor Simon Roberts were among the team of nine who recently received 950,000 shares in the grocery chain.
It will save £450million from the business rates holiday.