Mon 8th Aug 2016 - Greene King’s Rooney Anand awarded 13% pay rise in wake of Spirit deal Greene King’s Rooney Anand awarded 13% pay rise in wake of Spirit deal: Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand has been awarded a 13% base salary increase to £645,000 from £567,970 to take into account the increased complexity of the business in the wake of the Spirit acquisition. Financial director Kirk Davis was awarded a 7% increase to £351,000 from £328,000. The annual report reveals Anand earned a total of £2,547,000 in the most recent financial year, up from £2,139,000 the year before. His earnings included a base salary of £609,000 plus taxable benefits worth £20,000, pension related benefits worth £152,000, an annual bonus of £594,000 and long-term incentives worth £1,172,000. Kirk Davis earned a total of £684,000. Chairman of the remuneration committee Lynn Weedall told shareholders in the annual report: “Given the significant changes to the size and complexity of the group as a result of the acquisition of Spirit Pub Company, the remuneration committee gave a commitment to review executive director base salary levels and other elements of the directors’ remuneration policy during 2015/16. Following the completion of the review, the main conclusions reached were that no changes should be made to the directors’ remuneration policy at this time although a number of decisions were made in respect of the operation of the policy. In particular, in the light of a detailed review of the changes in the size and complexity of the group as a result of the Spirit acquisition, the progress that management was making in respect of the integration and the individual performance of the two executive directors, the remuneration committee awarded base salary increases of 13% and 7% to the chief executive and chief financial officer respectively, with effect from 19 October 2015, the half year point. It should be noted however that no further increase to the executive directors’ base salary was made in May this year, and no further changes will be considered until May 2017. In addition, the committee reviewed the various outstanding long-term incentive plan (LTIP) award performance targets to ensure that it was satisfied that the earnings per share and return on capital employed target ranges provide an appropriate level of stretch in light of the acquisition of Spirit. As such, targets for the 2013 and 2014 awards have been adjusted to take into account the anticipated impact of the Spirit acquisition (excluding synergies) and, given that the performance targets for the 2015 LTIP awards were set without taking into account the expected impact of Spirit, the committee has significantly toughened the targets in respect of these awards. Consistent with best practice, major investors were consulted in respect of the adjustments. Bonus pay outs for this year were 97.5% of eligible salary for the chief executive and 77.5% of eligible salary for the chief financial officer, reflecting the stretching targets set at the beginning of the year. The LTIP awards granted in 2013 are expected to vest in August this year at 100% of the maximum for the core LTIP award and 76% of the maximum for the growth LTIP award.” Anand is also non-executive chairman of JB Drinks Holdings and received fees of £56,000 in the year and became a non-executive director of William Morrison Supermarkets in January 2016 earning fees of £12,500 so far.