Tesco CEO in £4.74m annual pay award

New boss’s bumper deal as grocer’s profits soar

THE BOSS of Tesco received a £4.74m pay packet for the past year, the supermarket group has revealed in its annual report.

It comes as food prices for customers continue to rise amid a host of intensifying pressures on household budgets.

The report, which was filed on Friday morning, said Ken Murphy’s bumper total pay deal was 224 times the overall pay of the median member of staff at Tesco.

Mr Murphy, who started as the firm’s chief executive in October 2020, was handed a £1.54m basic salary for the year to February. This was boosted by around £3.2m of performance-related bonuses after supporting the company’s recovery during the pandemic.

The supermarket giant’s group pre-tax profits jumped to £2.03bn in the year to February 26, up from £636m the previous year.

Tesco’s leadership team have also helped the company tackle major supply chain challenges, including lorry driver shortages.

It comes after Mr Murphy received £992,000 for his first five months at the helm in the previous financial year.

Meanwhile, his predecessor, Dave Lewis, received £6.3m in total pay in the 2020 financial year.

For the latest year, recently appointed chief financial officer Imran Nawaz received £5.4m in total remuneration, driven by a £3.5m compensation payment after leaving his previous post at Tate & Lyle.

The report said that Mr Nawaz received a 4.29 per cent increase in his basic salary, while Mr Murphy saw a 2.25 per cent increase. However, the company also highlighted that staff at stores and warehouses received a 5.8 per cent increase in basic pay.

Chairman John Allan saw his pay deal stay roughly flat for the year at £695,000.

Earlier this week, Mr Allan said there is an “overwhelming need” for a windfall tax on energy com

panies after seeing the supermarket’s customers “extremely stretched”.

Earlier this week Tesco announced that office workers will now be able to use their local Tesco to work from as the supermarket group launches a new partnership with IWG.

Tesco has said the flexible workspace business will convert excess space at its supermarket stores into office space designed for hybrid working.

It comes amid the continued shift away from traditional city centre offices which was accelerated by the pandemic.