Brewing chief's pay falls by 17% as profits decline

The boss of SABMiller is having to stomach a 17 per cent drop in his pay packet after the brewer's profit tumbled following its costly bid to merge with Anheuser-Busch InBev
SABMiller beer Miller, Peroni, Tyskie, Pilsner Urquell, Grolsch and Coors LightSABMiller beer Miller, Peroni, Tyskie, Pilsner Urquell, Grolsch and Coors Light
SABMiller beer Miller, Peroni, Tyskie, Pilsner Urquell, Grolsch and Coors Light

Chief executive Alan Clark has seen his total remuneration slashed to £5.9 million this year, down from £7.1 million in 2015, driven by a 45 per cent drop in long term incentives to £2.4m.

Mr Clark was handed base pay of £1.2m and a £1.7m annual bonus, alongside retirement and other benefits of £593,000. According to the firm’s annual report, growth in underlying revenues, EBITA and adjusted earnings per share have lead to “above target bonuses for the year”.

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However, the depreciation of currencies against the dollar has caused “some long-term incentive awards with three to five-year performance periods to lapse with a nil payout”.

The slide in pay comes after the Castle Lager maker announced in May that adjusted full-year pre-tax profit had dropped 16 per cent to £2.8 bn. The London-based firm was stung by a £396m impairment charge related to investments in Angola and South Sudan and 160 million dollars (£110 million) in merger costs.

The European Commission has approved AB InBev’s £71bn takeover of SABMiller on the condition that “practically the entire SABMiller beer business in Europe” is sold off.

AB InBev also confirmed it was putting Peroni, Grolsch and its Meantime brewery up for sale in December, less than a month after formally agreeing the SABMiller takeover following protracted talks. The mega-merger will become the largest takeover of a UK-based firm as well as the fourth biggest in global corporate history.

SAB employs around 69,000 people in more than 80 countries.

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