Next chief Lord Wolfson hands his £4m bonus to 20,000 staff
AROUND 20,000 staff at Next are to share in a £4m cash windfall after the retailer’s chief executive Lord Wolfson decided to gift his bonus for a second year in a row.
In a letter sent to staff yesterday, the Conservative peer said that everyone who has worked for the retailer since April 2011 will share in the bonus, which averages at around £200 each.
The award will be paid out in May and is equal to around 1.5 per cent of an employee’s base salary.
Lord Wolfson was entitled to the award under a share matching plan which came into force in 2011.
Under the scheme, senior executives can invest part or all of their annual cash bonus in Next shares, which were then matched by the company, subject to the level of growth in earnings per share.
Lord Wolfson said in the letter that a trebling of shares over the past three year and a rise of 65 per cent in profits per share meant his bonus “has become more valuable than I could possibly have hoped”.
His remuneration for last year will be disclosed when Next’s annual report is released on Friday.