BAT chief’s pay jumps to Sh60m on promotion

BAT managing director Beverley Spencer–Obatoyinbo. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By PATRICK ALUSHULA
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Summary

• Earnings of British American Tobacco (BAT) Kenya
• managing director Beverley Spencer–Obatoyinbo increased by 53 percent to Sh60.35 million following her promotion from position of Swiss area director.
• The earnings, disclosed in the annual report for the year ending December 2018, show that Ms Spencer earned annual salary of Sh19.2 million, up from Sh12 million the previous year.
• This averages Sh1.6 million per month, being higher than Sh1.4 million of her predecessor Keith Gretton who left on May 2, 2017.

Earnings of British American Tobacco (BAT) Kenya managing director Beverley Spencer–Obatoyinbo increased by 53 percent to Sh60.35 million following her promotion from position of Swiss area director.

The earnings, disclosed in the annual report for the year ending December 2018, show that Ms Spencer earned annual salary of Sh19.2 million, up from Sh12 million the previous year.

This averages Sh1.6 million per month, being higher than Sh1.4 million of her predecessor Keith Gretton who left on May 2, 2017.

Ms Spencer also earned Sh20.32 million as long-term incentives, up from Sh12.88 million in the previous year. This is paid in form of shares in BAT Group. She was awarded 5,859 shares compared to 2,925 shares given in 2017.

She also earned taxable benefits of Sh9.5 million, short-term incentives of Sh8.56 million and pension of Sh2.7 million.

Short-term incentives are pegged on the attainment of corporate targets aligned to the strategic objectives of the group and is paid in form of bonus up to 100 percent of annual salary for the MD.

Long-term incentives are paid in form of shares. The number of shares awarded depends on the extent to which the performance conditions of the BAT Group (UK) have been met during a three-year performance period.

Finance Director Sidney Wafula earned Sh23.72 million, a 75.5 percent rise from Sh13.5 million in the previous year.

He was promoted to the current role on May 2017 having served as BAT Group’s Southern Africa Markets operations, based in Mozambique.

His salary rose from Sh5.8 million to Sh9.2 million. His short-term benefits nearly tripled to Sh5.1 million while his long- term incentives-paid in form of shares- hit 6.7 million from Sh3.3 million.

During the year under review, Ms Spencer led BAT Kenya in posting a 22.4 percent net profit growth to Sh4 billion.

BAT’s total dividend payout jumped 34.6 percent to Sh35 per share from the Sh26 per share distributed in the previous year.