Tesco CEO Dave Lewis gets a £2.3 million bonus — but its less than last year

pulse

May 16, 2017 8:34 AM

The supermarket CEO's total remuneration was £4.1 million for 2016/17, compared to £4.6 million in 2015/16.

Tesco Group Chief Executive, Dave Lewis speaks at an analyst presentation in London, Britain, April 12, 2017.

LONDON — The CEO of Tesco saw his total pay package fall be £500,000 last year, with sales not quite strong enough for him to earn his full bonus.

Dave Lewis' total remuneration for 2016/17 was £4.1 million, compared to £4.6 million in 2015/16. The figures are disclosed in Tesco's annual report, published on Friday.

Lewis' base salary remained unchanged at £1.25 million and pension contributions were also steady at £313,000. Benefits jumped from £80,000 to £223,000. However, the Tesco CEO's annual bonus fell from £2.9 million to £2.3 million.

Tesco's annual report shows the fall in bonus was down to sales. The supermarket reached its target of at least £48.1 billion in sales from continuing operation (it reported £48.2 billion) but it would have had to hit £48.6 billion for Lewis to receive his full bonus.

Deanna Oppenheimer, the chair of Tesco's remuneration committee, writes in the annual report: "Tesco has had a year of strong progress, delivering against the three turnaround priorities of improving competitiveness in the UK, a more secure balance sheet and rebuilding trust, which were set in 2014.

"A stable platform has been established and a strong performance delivered in spite of significant external challenges, which made 2016/17 another challenging year for retailers.

"As a result, the Committee determined that 75.6% and 74.2% of the maximum bonus opportunity should pay out for the Group Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer, respectively."

CFO Alan Stewart took home £2.2 million in 2016/17, including a £1.2 million bonus. He made £2.5 million in 2015/16 when his bonus was £1.6 million.

Tesco reported revenue up 3.7% to £55.9 billion for 2016/17, with profit before exceptional costs of £1.28 billion. The supermarket is currently in the midst of a multi-billion pound merger with food wholesaler Booker, Lewis' first major M&A deal since taking the reigns at Tesco in 2014.

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