Tesco employees to share £98m bonus pot

26th May 2009 11:11

Tesco employees are to share a bonus pot worth £98m after the supermarket retailer announced record annual results last month. The details emerged as the group published its 2008/2009 annual report, which also revealed that top bosses picked up £22.2m in salary and bonuses. More than 200,000 workers - from checkout staff to floor managers- who have worked with the supermarket for at least a year will be eligible for the free shares, which will be 3.6% of salary and up to a maximum of £3,000.The "Shares in Success" windfall is up 8% on the previous year and comes after the group broke though the £3bn profit barrier in April.The group also said 66,000 staff who have held shares in the scheme since 2004 also today became eligible to sell the £37m worth of shares they were awarded 5 years ago tax free.Non-executive Chairman, David Reid, said: "As always our success is down to the hard work and skill of the whole Tesco team. They deliver for customers every day and have made Tesco a British success story at home and abroad, an achievement of which we should all be especially proud given the current economic climate. I am delighted that once again all staff are sharing in this success."The annual report showed that chief executive Sir Terry Leahy bagged £5.1m in salary and bonus, down from £5.4m last year. His fixed salary was over £1.3m, the rest was made up from performance-related emoluments. Tim Mason, head of the US arm, saw his total pay fall to £3.7m, down from £4.5m last year. Both Leahy and Mason were awarded 45% of the maximum possible under their bonus scheme for the performance in the US, as the group failed to hit growth targets in the country because of the tough conditions.