Sainsbury’s boss is in the money
Chief awarded nearly £3.9m, despite failed merger
THE boss of Sainsbury’s got a much bigger bonus – despite failing to bag the Asda merger.
Mike Coupe – caught on camera singing “We’re in the money” when the Asda deal was first announced – pocketed nearly £3.9million in pay and perks last year.
About £2.6million of that was bonuses, including an annual £593,000 reward, up 39 per cent from £427,000 the year before. Coupe got the bonus even though the merger with Asda, blocked on competition grounds, cost Sainsbury’s £46million in fees.
Thousands of Sainsbury’s staff have also been hit by controversial changes to employment contracts.
The chain hiked workers’ base pay to £9.20 an hour but staff lost Sunday premium pay and paid breaks, as well as some bonuses. Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh warned 9000 people are worse off under the plans by an average of £400 a year, with the worst hit losing up to £3000.
She said yesterday: “I always thought bonuses were about rewarding success but it is clear what they are doing is rewarding failure.”
Sainsbury’s would not comment on whether Coupe offered to forego any or all of his annual bonus.
But questioned last month, he said he was “entirely confident in the performance of the business”. The bill for the blocked merger and other costs, including pensions and up 29.5 at 7214.3 Ei Group Ferguson GlaxoSmithKline Halfords Hays HSBC Imperial Brands International Airlines Grp ITV Kingfisher Land Securities Legal & General Lloyds Marks & Spencer Morrison National Grid Next Ocado Pearson Prudential 211.6 5166.0 1530.4 226.8 148.2 647.7 1938.0 463.0 107.8 218.9 833.0 261.4 57.9 229.9 197.1 783.0 5728.0 1112.5 769.2 1601.0 +2.2 +94.0 -18.8 +3.8 +2.3 +0.8 +67.0 +13.9 +2.7 +3.5 +2.6 +6.2 +0.8 +2.8 -0.3 -11.2 -10.0 -59.0 -21.8 +47.0 Oil = $61.79 restructuring, saw Sainsbury’s annual profits dive 42 per cent to £239million. Stripping this out, underlying profit rose eight per cent to £635million.
Sainsbury’s finance boss Kevin O’Byrne got £2.2million.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “Executive pay at Sainsbury’s is set by the Remuneration Committee and bonuses are subject to stretching targets. The business has hit a number of targets this year, including increasing profit, reducing net debt and increasing the dividend, which is why we have paid a bonus to eligible colleagues across the Group.” Mike Coupe Reckitt Benckiser 6319.0 RELX 1819.5 Rentokil Initial 370.3 Rio Tinto 4606.0 Rolls-Royce 879.0 Royal Dutch Shell B 2479.0 Royal Mail 198.7 RSA 559.0 RBS 218.4 J Sainsbury 202.5 SSE 1088.0 Severn Trent 1976.0 Serco 129.9 Sports Direct 294.6 Smith & Nephew 1650.5 Smiths WH 1985.0 Stagecoach 123.5 Standard Chartered 682.8 Standard Life Aberdeen 275.0 TalkTalk 115.0 Taylor Wimpey 166.1 +9.0 -33.5 -3.0 +11.0 +11.6 -8.5 +4.2 +13.0 +6.2 +2.5 +6.0 -6.5 -0.8 +3.6 -27.5 +31.0 -1.7 +8.2 +14.0 -2.0 +2.1 Tesco Thomas Cook Unilever United Utilities Vodafone Reach PLC 228.8 14.8 4814.5 787.2 133.7 76.0 +3.7 -2.7 -40.5 -9.6 +3.7 -0.2