Tesco chief Ken Murphy collects £4.7m: 224 times overall pay of median staff member
Ken Murphy, the chief of supermarket giant Tesco, received a £4.74m pay packet for the past year, the group has revealed in its annual report.
The report, which was filed on Friday morning, said Murphy’s bumper total pay deal was 224 times the overall pay of the median member of staff at Tesco.
It comes as food prices for customers continue to rise amid a host of intensifying pressures on household budgets.
Pay package
Murphy, who started as the firm’s chief executive in October 2020, was handed a £1.54m basic salary for the year to February.
This was boosted by around £3.2m of performance-related bonuses after supporting the company’s recovery during the pandemic.
The supermarket giant’s group pre-tax profits jumped to £2.03 billion in the year to February 26, up from £636m the previous year.
Tesco’s leadership team have also helped the company tackle major supply chain challenges, including lorry driver shortages.
It comes after Murphy received £992,000 for his first five months at the helm in the previous financial year.
Dave Lewis
Meanwhile, his predecessor, Dave Lewis, received £6.3m in total pay in the 2020 financial year.
For the latest year, recently appointed chief financial officer Imran Nawaz received £5.4m in total remuneration, driven by a £3.5m compensation payment after leaving his previous post at Tate & Lyle.
The report said that Nawaz received a 4.29 per cent increase in his basic salary, while Murphy saw a 2.25 per cent increase.
However, the company also highlighted that staff at stores and warehouses received a 5.8 per cent increase in basic pay.
Chairman John Allan saw his pay deal stay roughly flat for the year at £695,000.
Earlier this week, Allan said there is an “overwhelming need” for a windfall tax on energy companies after seeing the supermarket’s customers “extremely stretched”.