Tullett defends Smith’s £4.65m pay deal
INTER-DEALER broker Tullett Prebon yesterday strongly defended the payment of a £4m bonus to chief executive Terry Smith after a year in which its operating profits fell.
Operating profits at Tullett fell from £175.3m to £170.8m but Smith was awarded a total pay package of £4.65m, the same pay as he received the previous year.
A company spokesman said yesterday: “Not only has the company been successful but one of our major competitors has been trying to destroy us by poaching our staff and we have just been through a year of market turmoil. It is amazing we did as well as we did.”
He added that shareholders have been well rewarded by a 19 per cent uplift in the dividend payment.
The next highest paid director in the company is finance director Paul Mainwaring who takes home £1.276m.
Tullett won a legal battle against rival BGC Partners over staff poaching as a High Court judge agreed in March that there was a conspiracy between BGC, its president Shaun Lynn and its general manager Tony Verrier to induce Tullett brokers to breach their contracts.