You are here: News / Retail FD's rewards increase faster than for CEOs
Retail FD's rewards increase faster than for CEOs
Archived article dated Tuesday October 4th 2005
Salaries for FDs in the FTSE general retail sector are rocketing and have increased at nearly four times the rate of CEOs over the past three years - but the sector generally is struggling to retain its key executives,according to research released today by executive compensation consultancy, Halliwell Consulting.
Since 2001 the median salary for CEOs in the FTSE general retail sector has increased by 14% - from £300,000 to £343,000. In the same period, the median salary for FDs has increased by 54% - from £142,000 to £219,000.
"A number of factors are contributing to the rapidly escalating salaries of financial directors in the retail sector - the most important being private equity," says Marcus Peaker, chief executive of Halliwell Consulting."The private equity bug really took hold of the retail sector in 2003 / 2004 with year on year increase in share price standing at 22% but the whole stock market still recovering and debt cheap. Allders, Selfridges, Debenhams and New Look all went private. The high profile of private equity, battles for Marks and Spencer, the apparent dearth of FDs and the high profile of Arcadia all contributed to executives - and subsequently remuneration committees - facing new challenges.
"Over 2004 / 2005 we have seen the pressure exerted by privately backed companies continue and with James Beattie being acquired and Woolworths potentially going private, a wave of yet more change may be gathering momentum."
Halliwell Consulting's research also indicates that the retail sector suffers from an acute "churn" problem. 32% of the companies in the sector have not had the same CEO for 3 years, whilst 27% have not had the same FD over the same period.
Tagged as: fd | ceo | reward | salary | retail news |
Share this article:
Should your colleagues be reading the Retail Bulletin?
Let them know about us.
