€294.4m windfall for Tesco staff

Supermarket chain Tesco said today its directors and staff would share a rewards package worth almost £200m (€294.4m).

The group, based in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, UK, said employees, including chief executive Sir Terry Leahy and his board, would receive £196m (€288.5m) in incentive bonuses and share schemes.

The figure includes £11m (€16.2m) for the board, with Sir Terry winning short and long-term share awards totalling £1.98m (€2.9m). His total annual salary and benefits package rose by just under 5% to £2.98m (€4.4m).

New non-executive chairman David Reid, who resigned as an executive director in December, received short and long-term share awards totalling £1.94m (€2.9m), while his total package rose 4.4% to £2.7m (€4m).

The company revealed the news as it published its annual report for 2003.

Last month, it announced record annual pre-tax profits of £1.6bn (€2.4bn), a rise of 17.6% on a year earlier, in the 53 weeks to February 28.

The group also said today that it would create 20,000 jobs in the UK and overseas in 2004.