Incoming Headlam chief executive Rob Barclay will be paid less than his predecessor Chris Payne, who has continued to be paid since his departure from the group last October.
Stephen Bird, Headlam interim executive chairman is being better paid than both.
Payne had a basic annual salary of £494,190: Barclay will be paid £435,000. Bird saw his annual basic salary increase to £500,000 when he took over the executive role from Payne.
Payne will continue to be paid until 16 May. From his departure to 31 December he was paid salary, pension and benefits of £118,176; £9,456 and £2,503 respectively.
The group’s annual report also shows that Payne’s possible bonus was weighted as 70% for EBITDA (a threshold of £5.6m, a target of £6.2m and a goal of £7.4m to achieve the maximum bonus element) and equally weighted targets of growth in key accounts; growth in trade counters; to at least maintain Mercado’s market share; achieve an set increase in group buying rebates; at least maintain customer satisfaction levels and at least maintain colleague engagement levels. Headlam’s renumeration committee did not assess the non-earnings objectives.
Over the past decade total renumeration for Headlam chief executives has varied greatly. In 2016 Tony Brewer earned £737,000 before leaving the group in September 2016; Steve Wilson earned £1.067m in 2016 (including bonus and his role as group finance director), £1.069m (including bonus) in 2017, £588,000 in 2018, £798,000 (including bonus) in 2019, £514,000 in 2020 and 864,000 (including bonus) in 2021 before leaving the group in October 2021; Payne earned £205,000 in 2021 (on a pro-rated basis for the period he was Interim chief executive from October to 31 December 2021 including bonus), £674,000 (including bonus) in 2022, £644,000 (including bonus) in 2023 and £532,000 in 2024.
