Boohoo boss takes home £650,000 bonus despite fast-fashion giant making over £90m loss
26.05.2023 - 05:33
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Fast-fashion giant Boohoo handed its chief executive a bonus of more than £650,000 despite racking up losses of over £90m.
According to the annual report of the Manchester-headquartered group, whose brands include PrettyLittleThing and Nasty Gal, John Lyttle took home a £1.35m pay packet in the year to February.
It was made up of his £651,000 salary, and an annual bonus also amounting to £651,000, or 100% of his base wage.
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Boohoo’s largest shareholder Mahmud Kamani, who co-founded the firm in 2006 and is estimated to be worth around £675m, also enjoyed an annual bonus worth 100% of his salary. He took home £1m last year.
In March, shareholders narrowly approved a new bumper incentive deal which could see Mr Lyttle earn a £50m bonus over the next five years provided he led a significant turnaround in Boohoo’s share price.
Boohoo said the share price targets were "realistic" but "very stretching", and "provide a real incentive for management to return Boohoo to growth and value creation".
It comes as the firm's share price has collapsed in recent years, plunging by more than 45% in the past year.
Furthermore, Boohoo sunk to a loss of almost £91m from a profit of £7.8m the prior year, after sales slipped by more than a 10th.
The retailer was affected by rising costs, including shipping, staffing and energy, as well as shoppers returning to the high street.
However, Boohoo said it "considered at great length" the group’s financial performance and "determined that they were not reflective of the overall performance of the management team during the financial year".
It added: "The committee recognises the strong performance of management and successful