Procter & Gamble chief executive gets €20m as Nenagh reeling from lay-offs

PROCTER & Gamble Co is paying chief executive AG Lafley $27.7 million (€20.28m) as he oversees the lay-off of 280 Irish workers.

In March, the company — north Tipperary’s largest employer — announced a decision to move its skincare operations to Lodz in Poland by the end of 2009, with the loss of 280 jobs at the Gortlandroe plant.

The development came as a massive blow for Nenagh and the wider economy of north Tipperary, which was already struggling with a jobs crisis prior to the announcement. &

Mr Lafley, 60, received most of his compensation in the form of stock. Options totalled $10.3m, while share awards came to $9.2m for the year up until June 30, Cincinnati-based P&G said yesterday in a regulatory filing. His salary was $1.7m, unchanged from a year earlier.

P&G, the maker of Tide laundry detergent and Olay skin lotions, increased per-share earnings by 11% during the past fiscal year. Sales excluding acquisitions and divestitures rose 5%, within a target of 4% to 6%. The compensation committee said P&G met its goal of integrating Gillette Co, a $57 billion acquisition engineered by Mr Lafley in 2005.

His bonus was $3.5m, the same as the previous year, and incentive pay was $2.6m, P&G said.

Comparing total compensation from a year earlier is complicated. A new US Securities and Exchange Commission rule spreads the value of stock-option grants over several years instead of reporting the full value in the year they are awarded.