Former Co-op CEO paid almost £2 million after difficult year
Former Co-op chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq collected almost £2 million ahead of her unexpected departure from the business last month.
This came despite a “challenging” year when Co-op was hit by a cyberattack.
Subscribe to TRBThe Guardian has reported that Khoury-Haq’s pay package totalled £1.9 million for 2025 including a £165,000 “rewarding growth” bonus. This came as the Co-op posted an underlying pre-tax loss of £125 million for the year.
Khoury-Haq and other senior executives were not paid an annual bonus for the period after the company failed to meet the “affordability underpin” required to trigger the payout. As a result, no awards were made to executive directors or other eligible staff in the scheme. Her total pay did, however, include a long-term performance bonus tied to results from earlier years.
That said, Co-op’s remuneration committee agreed that all qualifying colleagues, including frontline staff, would receive 10% of their maximum opportunity under the rewarding growth incentive plan, in recognition of their efforts during 2025.
Co-op said in the report: “The challenges of 2025 mean that on formulaic assessment, the targets to trigger payment under this scheme for the year were not met.
“However, the committee is keen to recognise the tremendous hard work and effort of all colleagues in an extremely challenging and difficult year.
“The way our colleagues responded with resilience and professionalism to an unprecedented malicious cyber attack was truly remarkable.”
Co-op confirmed last month that Khoury-Haq had decided to step down after four years as group chief executive.
The news came a month after Co-op defended its culture and leadership following claims that some senior managers had complained of a “toxic culture” at the executive level of the group. However, Khoury-Haq has denied that her resignation was linked to the allegations.
In February, a Co-op spokesperson told the BBC: “Our culture, as a co-operative, ensured decision-making throughout has listened to views from leaders and colleagues across our food and wider business while simultaneously acknowledging when a wide range of views are expressed, not everybody will always agree with the final decisions and actions taken.”
A spokesperson also said: “Our colleague engagement remains high and our culture and ethos mean we continue to engage with all our colleagues and leaders to ensure they act constructively and co-operatively for the long-term success of the business.”
