£2.7m windfall for Debenham's directors

Debenhams chief executive Belinda Earl and her fellow executive directors stand to gain a £2.7m (€3.9m) windfall from a long-term incentive plan when the company is taken private next month.

Ms Earl's payout from the plan has been set at almost £1m (€1.4m) by the Debenhams remuneration committee.

Ms Earl waived a £300,000 (€438,000) bonus in the financial year to August 30, which limited her pay in the year to £864,704 (€1.2m), an increase of 70% on her wages a year earlier.

Details of the incentive plan payout arrangements emerged in a circular being delivered to shareholders today setting out the process to approve the £1.7bn (€2.4m) bid for Debenhams from Baroness Retail, the private equity consortium.

There is mounting speculation that Earl is set to leave the firm when Baroness takes over. If she does depart the company, compensation for loss of office and the value of Ms Earl's company pension plan could edge the value of her payout to £5m (€7.3m).