Tesco boss nets £4.6m after 9,000 jobs put on the line

Mr Lewis earned a £1.6 million bonus, on top of his £1.25 million base salary and £1.3 million through the company’s long-term share plans, Tesco’s annual report revealed.

He also earned £313,000 in pension earnings as well as benefits, during the year. The pay package will be scrutinised at the company’s AGM next month.

His pay packet is 226 times the median wage of a Tesco employee, at £20,364, the report added.

This comes months after Tesco announced in January that up to 9,000 jobs are at risk across its head office and stores as part of a major cost-cutting drive.

Britain’s biggest supermarket chain recently beat forecasts to report a 28.8 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profits to £1.67 billion last year, while revenue grew 11.2 per cent to £63.9 billion.

The chief executive, who joined Tesco in 2014 from consumer good giant Unilever, hailed the company’s progress and said he is confident it will complete its turnaround goals by the end of the current financial year.

However, Mr Lewis’s pay represents a fall from last year, when he received a £5.1 million package on the back of a significantly higher bonus payment.