AG Barr boss Roger White received an 82 per cent boost to his total pay last year as all top executives earned the maximum allowed under the company's annual bonus scheme.
Mr White, who has been in charge of Irn-Bru maker Barr since 2004, received bonus pay of £599,000 for the year to January 2022 along with an 8% increase in base salary to £487,000. This, together with pension contributions and other work-related benefits, took his total remuneration to just shy of £1.3 million, up from £710,000 the previous year.
The Cumbernauld-based company did not pay any executive bonuses in the previous two years as it managed its way through the Covid pandemic and associated lockdown measures. Mr White's last bonus payment for the year to January 2019 came in at £420,000, with total remuneration of £1.44m.
READ MORE: Irn-Bru veteran steps down after 60 years as profits soar
The return of bonuses in the latest 12 months lifted finance director Stuart Lorimer's total remuneration to £833,000, up from £365,000 the previous year. Commercial director Jonathan Kemp received £630,000, up from £323,000.
In other executive pay decisions, the company's remuneration committee said that all awards earmarked in 2019 under the company's long-term incentive plan (LTIP) have lapsed in full, and those shares will not vest with any of the executive directors.
One of the keys to triggering those award was to achieve cumulative earnings per share (EPS) of between 95p and 110p during the three years ending in January 2022. The actual figure came in at 72.73p.
READ MORE: Irn-Bru maker AG Barr warns of hit to margins
"The remuneration committee concluded that in light of both wider business performance and stakeholder experience outlined above, the decision to award full bonus to directors for the financial year combined with the decision that the 2019 LTIP will lapse in full were fair and appropriate," the company said in its newly-published annual accounts.
There was a "one-off change" to LTIP awards granted in 2021, with Barr deciding to dispense with usual targets linked to earnings and shareholder returns amid the uncertainties brought by the pandemic. Those awards will be based on revenue growth targets with a maximum payable for net revenues of £230m during the year to January 2022; £235m during the year to January 2023; and £250m during the year to January 2024.
In March, Barr reported an 18% increase in revenues to £317.6m for the year to January 2023, with pre-tax profits up by more than 5% at £44.4m.
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