M&S CEO bags £7.1m pay packet

M&S boss Stuart Machin took home more than £7m in pay last year, according to the company’s most recent annual report.

The chief executive was paid £7.1m for the 52 weeks to 29 March, up from £5.1m the year before.

This came from a fixed pay of £843,000 and £1.63m in bonus payments. Machin received £4.6m in performance related pay, which is subject to holding periods and is dependent on future share price growth.

Machin is set to receive a 2% salary increase from 1 July, which the retailer reported was below the 5% being awarded to its customer assistants.

It comes as the retail boss is understood to be facing a significant pay reduction of up to £1.1m this year following a cyber attack that has severely impacted the M&S’ operations and stock value.

The ongoing cyber attack, which was disclosed on April 22, had driven a 14% drop in the retailer’s share price, translating to a loss of approximately £831,000 from Machin’s performance share plan and £233,000 from a deferred bonus, both of which are set to pay out in July.

The combined hit to Machin’s compensation could reach up to £2.4m, as he is also facing paper losses on shares held through long-term incentive plans.

M&S warned that the fallout of the cyber attack could wipe around £300m off its profits. It reported a profit before tax and adjusting items of £875.5m in the year to 29 March, up from £716.4m.

Sales rose 6% to £13.9bn, driven by an 8.6% jump in food like-for-likes to £9bn and 4.4% lift in fashion, home and beauty to £4.2bn.

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