Tesco paid its group chief executive Dave Lewis a cash and shares bonus of almost £3 million (€3.8m) for its 2015-16 financial year, reflecting the progress he has made in turning around Britain's biggest retailer.
Mr Lewis, who succeeded the sacked Philip Clarke in September 2014, received total remuneration of £4.63 million - his salary and bonus, plus pension of £313,000 and additional benefits of £80,000, Tesco's annual report showed.
Tesco said Mr Lewis would defer half of the cash element of his bonus into shares which would vest on the earlier of three years or the resumption of dividend payments by the supermarket.
The average pay package for chief executives of companies in the blue chip FTSE 100 index was £5.23 million last year, a Reuters examination of corporate filings shows.
Excessive rewards
Shareholders at a number of British companies have raised concerns over what they regard as excessive rewards for executives in recent weeks.
Tesco, which remains Britain’s largest supermarket group, also said that 265,000 UK employees will share a £185 million turnaround bonus.
The bonus, which averages out at just under 700 pounds per worker, will be paid next month and staff can take it either as cash or shares.
In the Republic, a strike at 70 Tesco stores, scheduled for Monday, was suspended on Thursday in anticipation of talks at the Workplace Relations Commission. The dispute centres on what the trade union Mandate has said are unilateral moves by management to implement disimproved terms and conditions for personnel recruited before 1996.
