Johnston Press chief's pay packet nears £1m

Published on Tuesday 23 March 2010 20:05

JOHN Fry, chief executive of Johnston Press, publisher of The Scotsman, was awarded £959,000 in pay, benefits and bonuses in 2009, the group's annual report yesterday revealed.

The package included a 210,000 cash bonus plus a 210,000 performance-related bonus paid in shares and deferred for three years. His basic salary was 525,000.

Fry joined Johnston Press as chief executive in January 2009. His predecessor, Tim Bowdler, who retired in early 2009, was awarded 573,000 in basic pay in 2008. All executive directors waived their right to a performance-related bonus that year.

Basic salary for the group's two other executive directors, chief financial officer Stuart Paterson and chief operating officer Danny Cammiade, remained constant between 2008 and 2009, the report showed.

Paterson's total package for 2009 was 655,000, including a basic salary of 361,000, a cash bonus of 146,000 and a deferred shares bonus of 146,000. In 2008, he was paid a total of 363,000.

Cammiade's total pay rose from 342,000 to 590,000. This included a basic salary of 324,000, a cash bonus of 124,000 and a deferred shares bonus of 124,000.

Ian Russell, chairman of Johnston Press, Britain's biggest publisher of regional newspapers, said in the report: "Although conditions remain tough, I am pleased to say that the past year has seen a measure of stability returning to the markets in which we operate."