Burberry’s chief executive and creative director, Christopher Bailey, has had a 75 percent pay cut after profits and share price fell at the luxury fashion house.
Bailey received almost £1.9m in salary, pension and other benefits last year, down from a total of £7.5m the year before.Last year – in better times – Mr Bailey earned more than £1.7m in bonus payments alone.
The fashion brand has been hit by lower spending in key Asian markets such as Hong Kong, while Chinese tourists have been spending less in Europe.
His first payment from a controversial share award was also deferred by a year to take account of Burberry’s weakening financial performance
Profits fell by10 percent last year and the share price has dropped by 35 percent. The company is cutting jobs and reducing its product range to save money.
Burberry’s other executive directors, finance director Carol Fairweather and chief operating officer John Smith, also received no bonus or share awards. Fairweather’s pay fell by £1m to £683,000 and Smith’s almost halved from £1.52m to £813,000.
Sir John Peace, Burberry’s non-executive chairman, said:
“Our overall approach to incentive structures for all staff, including senior management, is based on performance. When the business does not perform as well, this has an impact on what we pay our staff.”
Bailey, who is also Burberry’s creative director, has been one of the best-paid bosses in the FTSE 100 since his promotion in 2014.
Burberry said Bailey and other directors would receive no salary increase this year and that it would delay deciding on executive share plan awards by four months to November to see how efficiency measures were progressing.
Rebecca joined the HRreview editorial team in January 2016. After graduating from the University of Sheffield Hallam in 2013 with a BA in English Literature, Rebecca has spent five years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past she has been part of the editorial teams at Sleeper and Dezeen and has founded her own arts collective.
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