Berkeley Group directors set up £280m payout
SENIOR directors at London housebuilder Berkeley Group have lined up a £280m bonus pot due to an unusual incentive scheme revealed in the company’s annual report.
Six board members including chairman Tony Pidgley and managing director Rob Perrins will receive 19.6m shares between them if they meet targets to pay out a £13 share dividend over the next nine years.
At Berkeley’s current price the share options would land the directors £280m. Pidgley and Perrins would receive £71.6m each, and if the company’s share price continues to rise, the bonus pot would expand. Analysts at Peel Hunt value Berkeley at £16.35, a price that would net the directors £320m.
The bonus pot is one of the biggest outside the FTSE 100, and is dependent on regular dividends to shareholders. Shareholders passed the scheme at last year’s annual meeting.
Berkeley, which has avoided the troubles facing the housing sector due to its focus on London and the south east, has seen its share price rise 16 per cent since the bonus scheme was agreed last September.