Boss of failed HBOS Andy Hornby makes £2m in nine months at Boots

Andy Hornby, who headed HBOS in the run-up to its near-collapse before its rescue by Lloyds TSB, was paid 1.68m in salary, bonuses and benefits after joining as chief executive on July 1 - making him Boots' highest paid director.

He also landed a 400,000 "golden hello" as part of "joining arrangements" for taking on the top job, which earns him 850,000 a year in salary excluding bonuses, according to the group's annual report.

His pay to March 31 included a nine-month wage of 600,000, an 805,000 short-term bonus, 240,000 in pension entitlements and 34,000 in benefits.

Mr Hornby's pay dwarfed that of executive chairman Stefano Pessina, who led a mammoth 11.1bn takeover of Boots three years ago backed by private equity group KKR.

Mr Pessina earned a 666,000 pay package, down from 701,000 the year before.

The part Mr Hornby played in leading HBOS to the brink saw his reputation called into question following the financial crisis, with the bank boss forced to defend himself in front of MPs alongside disgraced ex-Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin.

But his job at Boots has seen a remarkable turnaround in fortunes, putting him in charge of a group with growing profits and expansion plans.

Boots last week reported profits above 1bn for the first time.

The pharmacist and wholesaler posted trading profits of 1.07bn in the year to March 31 - up 12.7 per cent on a year earlier - helped by launches such as No 7 Protect & Perfect skincare.

Its UK revenues rose to 6.6bn, with like-for-like sales growth of 2.4 per cent.

Boots said in its annual report that pay levels for Mr Hornby and other directors were set with help from consultants and benchmarked against companies in the FTSE 100.