Baxter takes pay cut despite profit boost

AUDREY Baxter, the chairwoman of the eponymous Scottish food group, has seen her pay package diminish in the past year, despite her family company posting bumper profits.

Accounts lodged at Companies House yesterday showed the highest-paid director – assumed to be Baxter – earned 483,000 in the year to 31 May, down from 498,000 in 2008.

The fall came despite Baxters posting pre-tax profits last month of 5 million, up from 235,000 the year before when the soup, pickle and condiment maker was hit by steep rises in raw material costs and the "difficult" integration of Canadian firm CanGro Soups, which it acquired in 2007.