Sir Brian Souter adds further £250,000 to staff health screening kitty

TRANSPORT tycoon Sir Brian Souter last year donated a further £250,000 out of his Stagecoach bonus to fund medical screening for staff.

The payment, revealed in the company’s latest annual report, means Souter has now paid £750,000 over the past three years towards the £2 million cost of the voluntary heart screening programme. The initiative was launched for employees in the company’s UK bus division but this year has been widened out to include staff at the company’s headquarters in Perth.

In total more than 3,000 employees have now been through the screening process which initially involves a basic health screening and assessment of an individual’s risk factors.

The annual report published yesterday showed Souter received a £581,000 salary and £272,000 in cash and deferred shares bonuses last year. Together with benefits his total package rose to £876,000 from £844,000 the previous year.

Souter’s salary package is a relatively small part of his income from the company he founded as he owns 86 million shares in the company and received more than £6 million in dividends for its last financial year.

Finance director Martin Griffiths, the only other executive director, received £374,000 in bonuses as part of a £882,000 package, up from £836,000. Base salaries for the two executives rose by 3 per cent in line with that awarded to the company’s front-line staff. The company pointed out that over the past five years executive pay has increased by around 12 per cent compared to total shareholder return of 48 per cent.

Sir George Mathewson, in his first full year as chairman, received £165,000 in fees. Total boardroom pay dipped by £7,000 to £2.21m.