Dixons Carphone boss could earn up to £4.9m next year

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/05/dixons-carphone-sebastian-james-pay-salary-bonus

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The chief executive of Dixons Carphone, Sebastian James, could earn up to £4.9m next year if he meets performance targets for the newly merged retail group.

James earned £1.7m in the nine months to May 2015 – his first period as boss of the group which brought together his former company, Dixons Retail, with mobile phone specialist Carphone Warehouse.

That included a maximum bonus of £1.02m after he overshot profit, debt and return on capital targets, according to the new company’s annual report published on Wednesday.

It is not clear how much James earned in the previous four months when he was still chief executive of Dixons, but it is likely to be at least £249,000 given his annual salary and benefits reported in the company’s 2014 annual report.

That would bring the total for the year to May to £2m, a big step up from the £1.35m James earned in the year to May 2014 which included a £608,000 base salary. But it could be potentially dwarfed by his new pay deal under which he will earn a base salary of £820,000, with a possible further £1.02m annual bonus and up to £3m in long term share awards.

The annual report also sets out the payout for former Carphone Warehouse finance director Nigel Langstaff who stepped down from the company’s board in August last year following the merger. Langstaff, who joined Carphone Warehouse in 1997, received a £1.07m payoff, including a bonus of £437,500 and £350,000 in lieu of notice, on top of £127,000 in pay during the year.