Amec boss's pay passes £1m mark

SIR Peter Mason, the chief executive of project management group Amec, has joined the ranks of £1m-a-year executives, according to the contractor's latest set of accounts.

Mason, 57, received a £356,000 bonus on top of his £628,000 basic pay with other perks taking his total up to £1.02m, 42% better than the previous year.

Mason received 440,000 new share options during the year, taking his total to 1.6m.

Amec's new head of UK and American operations, Carlos Riva, was paid £426,000 for four months' work. His package includes a $150,000 (£84,000) 'guaranteed bonus'.

Amec shares have shaken off the stock market's loss of confidence in public-sector contractors resulting from high-profile problems at fellow rail and road maintenance companies Amey and Jarvis, and have risen by more than 100% in the past 18 months.

Mason's successor at Amec's larger rival Balfour Beatty, Mike Welton, was paid a total of £582,000 last year, a rise of 5%. According to the group's report and accounts, a bonus of £121,000 and other perks helped swell his £435,000 basic pay.

The accounts show that Malcolm Eckersell, its former head of civil engineering who lost his job in a management reshuffle last autumn, was given a £303,000 pay-off, taking his pay for the year to £615,000.