Unitech chief given 38% pay rise

THE PAY of Peter Curry, chairman of Unitech, the power supplies group, rose by 38 per cent to pounds 262,000 last year, writes Terence Wilkinson.

There was no rise in his basic pay of pounds 141,000, and pounds 35,000 of the pay increase was performance-related. The remainder reflected a rise from pounds 38,000 to pounds 74,000 in contributions by Unitech to Mr Curry's pension.

Both payments are related to return on capital employed and growth in pre-tax profits up to a maximum of 50 per cent of salary.

In the year to May, Unitech increased its pre-tax profits by 88 per cent to pounds 19.8m, helped by a rebound at Nemic-Lambda, its half- owned Japanese arm, and its share price has soared this year.

Buoyancy in boardroom pay packets has not extended to Tomkins, the manufacturing conglomerate, where the pay of Greg Hutchings, chief executive, slipped from pounds 1.24m to pounds 1.2m.

Mr Hutchings' basic pay rose by 6.5 per cent to pounds 623,000 but 'incentive compensation', based on growth in earnings, dividends and Tomkins' share price, fell from pounds 651,000 to pounds 574,000.

Last year Tomkins' pre-tax profits rose by 50 per cent to pounds 257m, including the first full year of its Ranks Hovis Macdougall acquisition, while earnings and dividend rose by 14 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.

The annual report also discloses that Tomkins authorised a pounds 38,000 rise in the contribution it makes to Mr Hutchings' retirement benefits plan from pounds 153,000 to pounds 191,000, making up for the fall in incentive compensation.

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