What millionaire bosses earn at BT, Burberry, British Land & National Grid

Chief executives at some of the country's biggest companies will have their pay scrutinised by shareholders next month. Here are the salaries they'll be asked to vote on.

The decade-high £7.2 million awarded to the boss of National Grid (LSE:NG.) will be among blue-chip pay packages facing scrutiny by shareholders ahead of AGMs next month.

In a year when households endured soaring energy bills, John Pettigrew’s base salary of £1.1 million was boosted by an annual bonus of £1.1 million and the 100% vesting of long-term incentives with an estimated value of £4.86 million.

The UK and US-focused energy transmission and distribution firm said the remuneration outcome for Pettigrew, who has been in charge since 2016, reflected “good annual performance delivery” as well as long-term value creation. 

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Other pay deals in the spotlight include the £3.1 million for BT Group (LSE:BT.A) chief executive Philip Jansen, whose base salary of £1.1 million has been the same since his 2019 appointment.

Burberry

When: 11am, Wednesday 12 July.

Where: Conrad London St. James, 22-28 Broadway, London, SW1H 0BH. 

How to participate: Questions for Burberry Group (LSE:BRBY) in advance of the meeting should be sent to AGM2023@burberry.com no later than 5.30pm, Friday 7 July. The deadline for proxy voting instructions is 11am, Monday 10 July.  More AGM details can be found here.

Who’s in the chair? Gerry Murphy, the former chief executive of Kingfisher, Carlton Communications and Exel, was appointed in July 2018.

How did the company do in the year to 1 April? Revenues of £3.1 billion were 10% higher, with the fourth quarter the strongest period of the year after comparable store sales growth of 16%. Adjusted operating profit rose 8% at constant exchange rates to £634 million, with earnings per share up by 29% to 126.3p. A final dividend of 44.5p a share is due to be paid on 4 August, resulting in a 30% hike in the total for 2022/23 to 61p.

How have shares performed? Up 54% at 2,586p (2,147p on Thursday).

How much is the boss paid? The base salary of chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd will increase in July by 3.5% to £1.14 million. His total remuneration for 2022/23 amounted to £4.29 million, including an annual bonus of £1.3 million based on 59% of the maximum opportunity. The bonus scheme, which paid 94% the previous year, is assessed 75% on adjusted operating profit and the rest on performance against strategic objectives. The value of buy-out awards handed to Akeroyd in order to compensate for incentives that he forfeited on leaving previous employer Gianni Versace contributed £1.7 million to the final figure.

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What’s in the new remuneration policy? There are no material changes to the policy, which was last approved at the 2020 AGM with 94.91% of votes in favour.

How much is the new chief financial officer paid? Kate Ferry is due to join Burberry on 17 July, with her starting salary of £675,000 being 9.7% lower than that paid to predecessor Julie Brown. Ferry will be eligible for a maximum annual bonus of 200% of salary, half of which will be invested in Burberry shares unless her shareholding is 300% of salary. She is also eligible for an annual award of long-term incentive shares equivalent to 150% of salary.

How did last year’s AGM go? The annual remuneration report was backed with 93.81% support.

What’s the view of voting agencies? Glass Lewis recommends shareholders support the annual remuneration report and the binding vote on the new three-year remuneration policy.

How’s the company doing on diversity? The board was 41.7% female at the end of the financial year, including the roles of senior independent director and chief financial officer. There were two directors from a minority ethnic background.

BT Group

When: 2pm, Thursday 13 July.

Where: The Vox Conference Venue, Resorts World, Birmingham, B40 1PU.

How to participate: As a hybrid meeting, shareholders can attend online via the Lumi platform. The company plans to make the online experience engaging, accessible and inclusive and is encouraging shareholders to join the meeting this way. Proxy voting instructions need to be returned no later than 2pm, Tuesday 11 July. More AGM details can be found here.

Who’s in the chair? Former ITV and Royal Mail boss Adam Crozier, who was appointed in December 2021.

How did the company do in the year to 31 March? Revenues of £20.7 billion fell 1%, with 4% growth in the regulated Openreach arm more than offset by the company’s other units. Adjusted earnings of £7.9 billion rose 5%, but bottom-line profits fell 12% to £1.73 billion due to increased depreciation from the infrastructure network build. Net debt of £18.9 billion rose £850 million primarily due to a pension scheme contribution of £1 billion. A dividend of 5.39p a share is due to be paid on 13 September, leaving the total an unchanged 7.7p a share. 

How have shares performed? Down 20% at 145.8p (129.7p on Thursday).

How much is the boss paid? The £1.1 million base salary agreed on Philip Jansen’s appointment in January 2019 is fixed for five years. He has also volunteered to waive any salary increases beyond the 2024 financial year. Jansen’s total remuneration for 2022/23 amounted to £3.09 million, which included an annual bonus of £962,590 based on 43.7% of the maximum opportunity. This was judged on a performance scorecard of seven financial and non-financial measures, ranging from the 90% payout for fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) connections but zero for the Net Promoter Score on customer satisfaction. Half of the bonus will be deferred into shares for three years. All three tranches of the Restricted Share Plan (RSP) awards made in 2020 will vest in full over the next three years after the two underpins were met, contributing £803,000 to Jansen’s overall remuneration figure.

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What’s in the new remuneration policy? Only minor changes are proposed after a major overhaul of the policy in 2020 saw the introduction of the Restricted Share Plan. The policy was approved at the 2020 AGM with 95.08% votes in favour. This year’s maximum bonus opportunity will again be 200% of salary, but with targets on the FTTP and 5G network rollout and Skills for Tomorrow no longer used as the company believes these are now well embedded in the business. The Net Promoter Score will have an increased weighting of 20%. Carbon emissions intensity no longer features in the annual bonus scorecard and is instead incorporated in a new sustainability underpin for future RSP awards.

How did last year’s AGM go? The annual remuneration report was approved with 93.58% of votes in favour. 

What’s the view of voting agencies? Glass Lewis recommends shareholders support the annual remuneration report and the binding vote on the new three-year remuneration policy.

How’s the company doing on diversity? At the end of the financial year, four of 12 board directors were female and two directors were from an ethnic minority background. Subsequent board changes mean female membership will be 45% following the AGM.

British Land

When: 11am, Tuesday 11 July.

Where: 100 Liverpool Street, London EC2M 2RH.

How to participate: The meeting is in-person only after low take-up of the virtual option the previous two years. It is also being held later in the morning following requests from shareholders at last year’s meeting. Proxy voting instructions should be returned no later than 11am, Friday 7 July. More AGM details can be found here.

Who’s in the chair? Tim Score, who is the former chief financial officer of Arm Holdings, has been in the role since July 2019 having joined the board in March 2014. His tenure has been extended by one year to the 2024 AGM after the board said it had “benefited immeasurably” from his guidance and knowledge.

How did the company do in the year to 31 March? The portfolio value fell 12.3% to £8.9 billion driven by yield expansion of 71 basis points. Like-for-like net rental growth of 5.9% helped to offset higher financing costs as underlying profit rose 6.9% to £264 million. In line with the policy of paying 80% of underlying earnings per share, the full year dividend for payment on 28 July is 11.04p and results in a 3.3% increase to 22.64p for the year.

How have shares performed? Down 27% at 387.8p (308.8p on Thursday).

How much is the boss paid? The base salary for Simon Carter, who was appointed chief executive in November 2020, is £773,000 after a 3% increase in April. His total remuneration for 2022/23 amounted to £1.74 million, which included £698,000 from the annual bonus scheme based on 62% of the maximum opportunity. The expected 11% vesting of long-term incentive awards granted in 2020 accounted for £142,000 of the final figure.

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How did last year’s AGM go? The annual remuneration report was approved with 96.24% of votes in favour.

What’s the view of voting agencies? Glass Lewis recommends shareholders vote in favour of the annual remuneration report.

How’s the company doing on diversity? At the end of March, the company met a majority of its targets on gender and ethnic diversity balance at board level. Women accounted for four out of the ten director positions, although none of the most senior roles. There were two directors from an ethnic minority background.

National Grid

When: 11am, Monday 10 July.

Where: Royal Lancaster London, Lancaster Terrace, London W2 2TY.

How to participate: This will be a hybrid meeting, meaning shareholders can watch and hear the proceedings online, ask questions and vote on the resolutions in real time. It will be possible to pre-register questions until 10am, Thursday 6 July, with the same date for the return of proxy voting instructions. More AGM details can be found here.

Who’s in the chair? BP senior independent director Paula Rosput Reynolds has been in the role since May 2021.

How did the company do in the year to 31 March? Underlying operating profit of £4.6 billion was up 15% at actual exchange rates following a full year contribution from UK electricity distribution and good operational performance by US regulated businesses.

Underlying earnings per share rose 7% to 69.7p, while capital investment lifted 15% to a record £7.7 billion. A final dividend of 37.60p a share is due to be paid on 9 August, leaving the total for the year 8.77% higher at 55.44p.

How have shares performed? Down 7% at 1,096.5p (1,034.6p on Thursday).

How much is the boss paid? The base salary of John Pettigrew is due to increase 4% to £1.14 million at the start of July. His total remuneration for 2022/23 amounted to £7.25 million, equivalent to 91.3% of the overall opportunity and the highest sum awarded to the CEO in the past decade. It is also the most received by Pettigrew since he took on the role in April 2016, beating the £6.6 million awarded last year. National Grid’s remuneration committee said the outcome reflected “good annual performance delivery” as well as long-term value creation. The annual bonus scheme generated £1.12 million based on 82.6% of the maximum opportunity, with the bulk of Pettigrew’s remuneration coming from the 100% vesting of long-term incentives with an estimated value of £4.86 million. Group value growth over three years determined five-sixths of the award, with the 11.5% outturn above the 10.5% threshold for maximum vesting. 

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How did last year’s AGM go? The annual remuneration report was approved with 94.52% support, while thebinding vote on the new remuneration policy got 93.11%. An advisory resolution on the company’s climate transition plan setting out the pathway to becoming a net zero business by 2050 was backed with 98.43% of votes in favour.

What’s the view of voting agencies? Glass Lewis recommends shareholders vote in favour of the annual remuneration report.

How’s the company doing on diversity? At the end of March, five women accounted for 41.7% of board roles and there were two directors from an ethnic minority background