M&S scraps bonuses for a second year

Marks & Spencer has announced it will not pay executive bonuses for a second year, despite its “much stronger management team” since the coronavirus pandemic.

The retailer’s annual report revealed that executive bonuses will be scrapped for 2020/21, the pay of chief executive Steve Rowe will be frozen and there will be no salary increases.

Chairman Archie Norman said that this is as a result of last year’s performance and the impact of the pandemic on business.

M&S said in its remuneration report: “Executive directors will still continue to be measured against a scorecard of individual objectives aligned to the strategic priorities set out earlier in this report.”

“However, no financial payment will be made in respect of their achievements.

“The committee debated the appropriateness of this decision in a time when executives are working harder than ever and believes, in the context of wider macroeconomic factors and the experience of the business with a large number of colleagues placed on furlough, this is the right decision for M&S.”

Due to the retailer's retailers performance, no bonus was paid out in 2019/20.

Steve Rowe’s total salary was down by nearly 20 per cent compared with the previous year as a result of lower PSP (Performance Share Programme) outcomes and the reduction in share price during the year. He was paid £1.21 million, including £143,279 paid out under the PSP scheme.

Archie Norman added that the pandemic forced M&S to operate “in ways never operated before”.

He continued to add that M&S staff were now increasingly “multitasking in stores” and "the manner in which our colleagues have been galvanised to act with pace and agility gives us confidence we can emerge stronger, as a faster, more streamlined business.”

“We are now, after two and a half years of transformation, on the verge of completing a much stronger management team, most notably with the arrival of Eoin Tonge as chief financial officer, Katie Bickerstaffe as chief strategy and transformation director, and Richard Price as managing director, clothing and home, together with many others.”

Earlier this week M&S announced it will reopen the majority of its clothing departments on 15 June as it laid out a series of changes to operations due to the coronavirus pandemic.