Six M&S directors share £2.7m in pay-offs

Marks & Spencer paid more than £2.7m in boardroom pay-offs last year to six directors who retired early from the struggling retailer. The compensation packages, which were revealed yesterday in the company's annual report, will refocus debate on "fat cat" rewards less than two months after Luc Vandevelde, the Belgian chairman of M&S, agreed to forgo a controversial £816,000 bonus.

The largest package went to Guy McCracken, head of international retail, business systems and IT, who resigned last September, along with Peter Salsbury, the chief executive, and Clara Freeman, head of UK stores.

Mr McCracken received the largest compensation package of £707,000, which included £287,000 as a one-off payment into his pension scheme. Mr Salsbury's pay-off totalled £609,000 and included £49,000 in benefits on top of a sum equivalent to one year's salary of £560,000. The other three directors resigned last July. Of these, Roger Aldridge, former property executive, received £550,000, of which £230,000 was in compensation for his pension entitlement.

Roger Holmes, who joined M&S from Kingfisher as managing director, received £796,000 from January to March. This included £672,000 in benefits to compensate Mr Holmes for the loss of benefits from his former employer. An M&S spokeswoman said: "We haven't just been willy-nilly in giving Roger this money. The whole point of the salary packages we offer is to make sure that we get the right people. These are one-off payments, they won't happen again next year."

Mr Vandevelde, who earns a basic salary of £650,000, was given £184,000 in benefits. M&S shares closed up 0.5p at 252.5p.