The chief executive of Wickes has been handed an inflation-busting pay rise after ‘proving himself’ in the role.
David Wood took on his current position in May 2019 ahead of the company’s demerger from Travis Perkins two years later.
Wickes recently announced that its revenue for 2023 remained static at £1.6bn and pre-tax profits of £41.1m.
The company’s recently-published annual report has revealed Mr Wood’s base salary will be increased by 9.9 per cent to £580,000 a year, with it also rising in 2025 “to bring it up to a level commensurate with an established CEO”.
Wickes will also, in what it has described as a “moderate increase”, will up the CEO’s annual bonus maximum to 160 per cent of his base salary, a rise from 140 per cent.
The business will also increase his long term incentive plan from 175 per cent to 185 per cent of his salary.
According to official figures, in the three months to January 2024 average weekly earnings for total pay in the United Kingdom grew by 5.6 per cent, while pay excluding bonuses grew by 6.1 per cent, when compared with the same period in 2022.
In the annual report, remuneration chairman Mark Clare said: “On the demerger in 2021, David was a first time CEO of a listed entity.
“His remuneration at the time was set to reflect that this was a first time appointment with a clear understanding that he needed to prove himself in role.
“After three years, given his performance as outlined above, the committee believes that it is now appropriate to regard him as a proven CEO and pay him the appropriate market rate for a valued and experienced CEO in a similar sized retail organisation.”
In the report, Wickes said the 9.9 per cent base salary increase was “only slightly” higher than the average rise awarded to the wider workforce of more than 7 per cent.
It added that the remuneration committee “believes this is appropriate given the level of performance and the relative position of the CEO’s package against the comprehensive benchmarking carried out”.
Wickes said the planned 2025 increase in Mr Wood’s base salary has not yet been determined and will be dependent on his “continued strong performance in the role”.
Before joining Wickes, Mr Woods was CEO of Mothercare in 2018 and president of Kmart Holdings, a $3bn grocery, retail and pharmaceutical business in the US, from 2015 to 2017. He has also held a number of senior roles at Tesco.