Pay boon for FTSE firm chiefs as salaries and bonuses remain high despite economic crisis

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 17:03 EST, 25 October 2009

Reckitt Benckiser, Tullow Oil, WPP Group and Tesco rank among the most generous FTSE employers when it comes to executive pay, a report reveals on Monday.

Bart Becht topped the list, raking in £36.8million as chief executive of Harpic owner Reckitt Benckiser, according to the survey of director remuneration by Incomes Data Services.

Aidan Heavey of Tullow, Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP and Sir Terry Leahy of Tesco also ranked among the top blue chip earners in the most recent financial year, IDS said.

Overall FTSE 100 chief executive pay held at £1.4million, down just 1.5 per cent. Salaries rose a hefty 7.4 per cent, offset by a 29 per cent decline in bonuses.

But executives had little cause for complaint, given the average bonus payout remained £502,000.

Salaries for FTSE 100 chief executives rose twice as fast as salaries for shop-floor workers, the report showed. Total earnings including share awards came in at £2.1m, compared with the average UK wage of £24,900.

The generosity of the awards will surprise ordinary workers who are coping with massive layoffs and widespread pay freezes. 

Britain's jobless total now stands at 2.5million, with unemployment at 7.9 per cent.

Steve Tatton of IDS said: 'What is surprising is that the credit crunch, which has led to some of the biggest rescue rights issues in living memory, has had so little impact on the rate at which chief executives' salaries are rising.'

Chiefs of FTSE 100 construction and building materials firms saw the largest salary increases, at 12.8 per cent last year.

In the financial services sector, IDS singled out directors at FTSE 250-listed Hargreaves Lansdown, who enjoyed salary increases of 100 -147 per cent.

The research comes at a sensitive time given public anger over bank bonuses.