Wetherspoon chief lands pay bonanza

THE chief executive of pubs group JD Wetherspoon landed a near 30 per cent hike in his pay and bonus package to £1.1m after toasting another year of record annual sales and profits.

John Hutson saw his total pay and shares swell after being awarded a £95,000 cash bonus, as well as £109,000 worth of shares under a long-term incentive scheme and a £358,000 share windfall in deferred payments from a plan set up in 2005.

The group’s annual report revealed that on top of a 2.5 per cent rise in annual salary, executive directors also received 16.5 per cent of their pay as a bonus after underlying pre-tax profits leapt 6.3 per cent to a record-breaking £76.9m in the year to July 28.

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Another five per cent of salary was paid as an extra cash bonus for making pub visits each month to carry out mystery shopper-style assessments and to talk to landlords – a long-standing bonus policy at the group.

Mr Hutson makes a minimum of 40 pub calls every month, while chairman and founder Tim Martin also spends the majority of the week out of the office visiting pubs in the chain, although he does not pick up a bonus.

Mr Martin owns a 26.5 per cent stake in Wetherspoon.

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