Vast pay deals for tobacco and mining bosses

TWO more FTSE bosses have picked up bumper pay deals despite pledges of a crackdown on fat-cat deals.

British American tobacco boss nicandro Durante was awarded £7.6m in pay and bonuses – £3m more than the year before – while Anglo American boss Mark Cutifani took home £3.9m, up from his previous pay of £3.4m.

recently WPP boss Martin Sorrell was awarded £42m in shares from his advertising firm, Shell boss Ben van Beurden was paid £7.5m and rolls-royce boss Warren east also took home nearly £1m in bonuses on top of his £925,000 salary.

Catherine howarth, chief executive of responsible investment charity ShareAction, said putting asset managers in charge of curbing high pay is like ‘putting the fox in charge of the hen house’ and called for boards to take a tougher line. She said: ‘each year it seems we might break the cycle of fatuously large pay awards made to CeOs – and then we don’t.’ Bosses are expected to come under increased scrutiny this up coming AGM season, with remuneration policies in the firing line. theresa May has criticised the ‘irrational and unhealthy’ earnings gap between bosses and ordinary workers and promised to crack down on fat-cat pay.

Anglo American, which faced a shareholder revolt last year over high payouts, announced yesterday that it would be capping executive bonuses. the firm said it’s reducing the maximum annual bonus for Cutifani to 300pc, from 350pc of basic salary – but it still means he could reap rewards of up to £13.1m.

BAT boss Durante, who received his highest ever pay package as chief executive of the tobacco giant this year, is likely reaping the benefits of its £40bn merger with reynolds American.