Wedgwood chiefs’ wages bill falls 15%

SENIOR management at troubled luxury goods firm Waterford Wedgwood saw their pay fall by 15%.

The company’s annual report, released yesterday, shows the pay bill for the executive directors fell from €4.9 million to €4.2m in the year to the end of March.

Group chief executive Redmond O’Donoghue saw his pay rise slightly to €1.06m. Mr O’Donoghue was paid a basic salary of €565,000, pension contributions of €472,000 and benefit in kind of €25,000. For the second year running he did not receive any bonuses.

The next highest paid director was John Foley, who heads the Waterford Crystal division and now its US operations. His pay rose from €493,000 in 2003 to €672,000 this year.

Peter Cameron, the new group chief operating officer saw his pay fall by 31% to €649,000. Mr Cameron was the only director to be paid a bonus this year.

Richard Barnes, who stepped down as finance director earlier this year, was paid €381,000 in salary and pension contributions. Tony O’Reilly Jnr also took a pay cut. His package fell from €383,000 to €360,000.

Company chairman Dr Tony O'Reilly was paid €63,000 in fees, the same as the previous year. His wife Chryss was paid €30,000 in fees for her services as a non-executive director, while her brother Peter (the vice-chairman) once again waived his fees.

Brian Patterson, the former Wedgwood chief executive, who is now chairman of the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority and chairman of the Irish Times, was paid €139,000.

Sam Michaels, another non-executive director took home €264,000, while David Sculley was paid €362,000.

Last year was another tough period for the group with a fall in sales and profits. However, the company has made good progress on reducing its debt with the sale of All Clad for €205m.