The WHSmith chief executive, Steve Clarke, has been given a 56% pay rise after the retailer enjoyed its best sales since 2002.
Clarke’s pay increased to £3.97m mainly because of a long-term share bonus that paid him £2.6m. His total pay included a £485,000 basic salary, £14,000 in benefits such as a company car allowance and a £783,000 annual cash bonus.
The bumper pay package is nearly double that of the boss of M&S, Marc Bolland, who earned £2.1m after securing his first bonus in two years, and is way ahead of Mike Coupe’s at Sainsbury’s, who received £1.5m last year.
Clarke received the maximum annual bonus, worth 160% of salary, after WHSmith’s pretax profit hit £123m to beat a target of £119m.
The retailer has benefited from the adult colouring book craze, the publication of Fifty Shades of Grey author EL James’s new book Grey, and an uplift in air travel that has brought more customers through the doors of its airport outlets.
The separate long-term bonus was calculated on payouts to shareholders, earnings per share and the performance of WHSmith’s share price over the last three years. Clarke was able to cash in the maximum possible under the scheme: giving him shares equivalent to double his 2012 salary which have tripled in value since they were first set aside.
The retail boss’s potential payout for this year could be £3.6m if he hits all targets. That includes a basic salary of £550,000, 12.3% up on last year. He could also earn a long-term bonus of shares with a face value of 350% of his base salary when they were first set aside.
