With our annual Power List on the way this weekend, it was apt to that two of the trade’s most closely watched leaders were yesterday back in the spotlight.
Philip Clarke’s gesture of waiving a £372,000 bonus will presumably have gone down well with Tesco store managers disgruntled about the hefty cuts to their own incentives that Clarke implemented last week. While you might argue that the supermarket’s recent performance left him with little choice, the business pages are full of big hitters who don’t think twice about pocketing a six or seven-figure bonuses regardless of their company’s position.
Elsewhere, the fall in profits announced yesterday by M&S has piled the pressure on a man who’s had much longer than Clarke to make his mark. Marc Bolland cut the retailer’s ambitious targets for growing sales over the coming year but declined to say whether he’ll be waiving his bonus.
Doing so might go some way to placating staff angry that their annual bonus is down from £350 last year for full-time workers to just £100. (Retail director Steve Rowe said he was “delighted” M&S was “able to pay a discretionary bonus” at all this year, considering the economy.)
Analysts yesterday said Bolland would get “the benefit of the doubt” for a while yet. But while merchandising boss Kate Bostock had the most awkward questions to answer about the faltering performance of women’s clothing, the buck will eventually have to stop with the man whose background is in beer and broccoli, not frillies and frocks.
No comments yet