Endeavour boss sees pay halved - to £9m

THE boss of Endeavour Mining saw his pay more than halve last year but still took home nearly £9m.

Sebastien de Montessus, 48, who has led the gold miner since 2016, was paid £8.9m last year – below the £18.8m he was handed in 2021.

The Frenchman received the bumper pay package two years ago as a reward for the company successfully shifting its primary listing from Canada to London.

More than 80pc of his pay is weighted towards performance.

Last year Endeavour joined the FTSE 100 index. The largest gold producer in West Africa’s profit fell 68pc to £120m last year due to a one-off impairment charge. It returned £248m to shareholders in 2022 through dividends and share buybacks.

Prior to Endeavour, de Montessus led mining investment company La Mancha between 2012 and 2016.

Other blue-chip bosses have been taking home millions. Education group Pearson paid its boss Andy Bird £7m last year. This month the group said it could not rule out a move to Wall Street. It makes more than 60pc of its revenue in the US.

Bunzl, which supplies products such as paper napkins and latex gloves, handed its chief executive Frank van Zanten £4.5m in 2022.