Staff to get bonuses from Phones 4u £35m loyalty pot

THE multi-millionaire owner of high street retailer Phones 4u yesterday announced a huge package of staff bonuses funded from a £35 million loyalty pot.

Tycoon John Caudwell has promised each of his 25 senior managers £1 million bonuses if they hit sales and customer service targets.

Substantial rewards from a further £10 million fund were also being dangled in front of 56 sales managers and 340 store managers.

The 50-year-old businessman, who was in the news recently for banning his 2,500 Phones 4u employees from using e-mail, surprised staff with the pledge at a conference in Birmingham.

In front of more than 500 employees, the father-of-three ordered four security guards, each carrying a suitcase containing £250,000, to show the audience what £1 million looked like.

Accompanied by loud music, indoor pyrotechnics, and flashing lights spelling the world MILLIONAIRE, Britain’s 26th richest man, with an estimated personal fortune of £840 million, promised financial independence for anyone reaching his targets.

Mr Caudwell said the scheme was the first phase in the Caudwell Group’s reinvestment of £405m earned from the sale of the mobile phone services businesses Singlepoint to Vodafone in August this year.

Corporate literature said the sale had been signed off by the EU last week and finalised on Monday.

The loyalty scheme starts in October for associate sales directors and in January 2004 for everyone else. The money could be drawn within two years.