Defence giant’s boss banks £3.5m as pay rises 40pc
UK DEFENCE giant BAE Systems awarded chief executive Ian King a 40.8 per cent pay rise in 2014, bolstering his total take home to £3.5m for 2014.
BAE Systems, the world’s third largest defence group, posted an 8.8 per cent drop in full-year sales from £18.2bn to £16.6bn for last year while underlying earnings before interest, tax and amortisation fell from £1.93bn to £1.7bn.
King’s base salary stayed flat at £930,000, yet his total package rose by just over £1m thanks to bigger bonus payments.
The FTSE 100 company has been hit by governmental cuts to the defence budget in recent years, especially in the UK where the company cut 440 jobs last year in a bid to slash costs.
In 2014, 93 per cent of the group’s sales were defence-related, with governments forming the overwhelming majority of BAE Systems’ customers.
In a letter to shareholders King said: “Through a continued focus on cost control, programme execution and efficiency, the group is working to deliver continuous improvements in affordability for the UK customer to ensure that the group’s large, longterm contracts deliver both value and world-class capability.”
A spokesman denied that the report had been “dripped out” after commentators on social media noted that the details were published 15 minutes into George Osborne’s Budget speech.
In response to questions about the timing of the annual report’s publication, a BAE spokesman said it is released annually on the same Wednesday in the same week in March.
“It is not being dripped out at the end of the day,” the spokesman said.
“Categorically I am stating that it has always been released at this time in this week and we are being nothing other than fully transparent in putting out [a regulatory stock market announcement] and another statement.”
BAE shares closed up 1.58 per cent at 545.50p yesterday.