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The basic pay of B&M European Value Retail’s (BME) CEO Simon Arora will increase to £575k in the current financial year, up from the £144k he received in 2014/15.

The figures released in B&M’s annual report this morning, reflect that the CEO’s basic salary was not reviewed from last year’s IPO for the remainder of the financial year 2014/15.

A benchmarking review of the executive directors’ remuneration was carried out for 2015/16 and basic salary increases were implemented from 29 March 2015. CFO Paul McDonald saw his basic salary rise to £290k from £135k last year.

B&M said: “The CEO’s salary is considered to be broadly reflective of a median position after allowing for a 5% discount to reflect the relatively lower cost of living in the North West versus some other parts of the UK.”

McDonald was granted a discretionary £270k bonus last year, but the company had no official bonus structure in place. The new annual bonus scheme is worth a potential 150% of base salary for the CEO and 100% of base salary for the CFO.

Chairman Sir Terry Leahy received no fee payment during the year “as he is not an independent chairman of the company”.

During its first year of trading as a public company, B&M’s revenues increased by 29.5% to £1.64bn, with UK like-for-like revenues up 4.4% and group adjusted EBITDA up by 33.6% to £174.2m.

Morning update

Packaging firm DS Smith saw revenues increase by 1% a constant currency basis, despite a slight reduction from the net impact of acquisitions and disposals in the year to 30 April 2015. Reported revenues reduced by 5% due to the impact of foreign exchange movements.

Adjusted operating profit increased by 17% on a constant currency basis to £335m (9% on a reported basis)

DS Smith has also reached an agreement to acquire the corrugated activities of Spain’s Grupo Lantero for €190m.

There is also news this morning that Tring-based nutrition supplement business Melrob Grove has been rescued from administration, saving 11 jobs.

FRP Advisory sold the business out of administration to Melrob Nutrition Ltd after Melrob Grove was forced to appoint administrators on 5 June.

The collapsed due to “an acute and unsustainable strain on its cash-flow”, FRP said, after HM Revenue & Customs ruled against it regarding its tax treatment for imported goods. HMRC’s decision mean Melrob Grove faced a £1.3m bill for back payment of import duty and VAT, forcing the company into administration.

The FTSE 100 has started the day slightly down, falling 0.2% to 6,829pts in early trading.

Yesterday in the City

The supermarkets were amongst the FTSE 100’s star performers yesterday as the sector bathed in the positive sentiment generated by the confirmation of the merger of European retail giants Ahold and Delhaize.

Morrisons (MRW) surged by 2.6% to 184.5p and Sainsbury’s (SBRY) by 2.3% to 275.5p. Sainsbury’s was also boosted by a price upgrade from Societe Generale, which raised its target price on the stock from 260p to 315p.

Tesco (TSCO) joined in the fun in the morning, but lost momentum in the afternoon to end the day 0.2% down to 215.8p.

The FTSE 100 in general rose for the fifth consecutive day, edging up another 0.2% to 6,844.8pts.

Elsewhere, M&S (MKS) was up 1% to 569.5p, SABMiller (SAB) was up 1% to 3,429.5p and Poundland (PLND) was up 2% to 321.7p .

The day’s fallers included Dairy Crest (DCG), down 1.9% to 526.5p, and Tate & Lyle (TATE), down 1.2% to 542.5p.

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