Woolies boss paid £488,000

WOOLWORTHS chairman Gerald Corbett was paid £ 404,000 last year and received benefits of £84,000. The salary is higher than the £375,000 the City expected because it includes some of his £500,000 pay from Kingfisher before it demerged Woolworths last summer.

New chief executive Trevor Bish-Jones is to receive a guaranteed bonus of £70,000 this August, as well as the £300,000 he was paid for leaving former employer Dixons.

Bish-Jones will also be paid a cash supplement equivalent to half his salary next April. If he leaves in the next two years, he will have to pay back Woolworths a proportion of £220,000, equating to his guaranteed bonuses minus tax.

The Woolworths annual report also reveals that Keith Fleming, a longstanding director of the chain before it demerged from Kingfisher, was given £366,000 to compensate him for his early departure last January.