M and S boss to start with £1m salary and £3.9m golden hello

Published on Monday 1 February 2010 21:27

MARKS & Spencer's new boss, Marc Bolland, will start in May on a near-£1 million salary and a "golden hello" worth £3.9m in shares.

The former Morrisons chief executive has been released six months early from his 12-month contract with the supermarket.

His 975,000 salary is just short of current M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose's 1.13m basic pay, but M&S said it would pay cash and shares awards worth up to a potential 6.3m – including an "exceptional" long-term incentive award worth 400 per cent of salary in his first year.

Bolland will also pick up cash and shares payments worth 7.5m in lieu of payments he would have received at Morrisons.

His annual pay package includes a bonus worth up to 250 per cent of his salary and a long-term incentive shares award, which has been boosted to the maximum 400 per cent level, as an initial joining perk.

His additional payments in lieu of awards due from Morrisons will see him pick up an immediate cash handout of 1.6m and 1m worth of shares, plus deferred share awards worth another 4.9m.

M&S's incoming chief executive has been on gardening leave from Morrisons since early December and holding talks to negotiate an early departure.

Bolland joined Morrisons in 2006 as chief executive and has transformed the once-ailing chain into the fastest-growing of the big four grocers.

The 50-year-old Dutchman was previously chief operating officer at Heineken, based in the Netherlands.

He held a number of senior roles at Heineken over the past 20 years, including responsibility for brand and marketing strategies.

As part of Bolland's turnaround strategy, Morrisons rebranded its stores, launched an advertising campaign featuring celebrities Denise Van Outen and Richard Hammond.