Sainsbury chief picked up £8m pay package

Mr King's bumper package consisted of 3.35m in salary, bonuses, benefits, pension contributions and deferred share awards, the report said.

He also made a 4.52m gain on share options from long- term incentive schemes – including a maximum payout under the 'Making Sainsbury's Great Again' incentive plan to revive the fortunes of the group, which he joined in 2004.

His overall package is up 60 per cent on the previous year's 4.9m although the group's remuneration committee said it had been "mindful of the current economic climate" in freezing basic salaries for the grocer's executive directors.

Finance director Darren Shapland also picked up a 1.54m package as total boardroom pay and deferred share awards reached 7.1m, the figures showed.

Mr King has overseen a recovery of the chain during the past four years – with underlying pre-tax profits more than doubling from 244m in 2006 to 610m in the current year – in a period which saw the firm twice become a takeover target in 2007.

The 17 per cent rise in annual profits was better than expected by the City while the group's 127,000 staff shared a record bonus pot of more than 80m.

UK like-for-like sales growth slowed to 4.3 per cent last year as the impact of food price inflation fades away and competition intensifies, but Sainsbury's is now looking for growth in other areas.

The supermarket spent 900m over the year to add 1.1 million sq ft of selling space, as well as opening or extending more than 100 stores, but plans to increase its convenience stores format as well as further growth in non-food sales.

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