Dysons clean up wit h €17m bonus

The boss of Dyson and his wife pocketed a £17m (€24m) bonus last year after shifting production of the firm’s distinctive vacuum cleaners overseas, the company confirmed today.

James and Deirdre Dyson paid themselves the dividends in 2003 after controversially moving manufacturing to Malaysia in 2002 and axeing 500 jobs in the UK.

Mr Dyson and his family own 100% of the firm, which has achieved more than 400% growth in 2004 so far.

It made pre-tax profits of £46.3m (€66m) in the year to December 31 2003.

A company spokeswoman justified the payment by saying Dyson’s success was based on the foundations Mr Dyson laid when developing the group’s original dual cyclone vacuum cleaner, whose design took 15 years and 5,127 prototypes to perfect.

Dyson sells its products in 37 countries around the world and achieved annual turnover in 2003 of £277m (€395m), up 18% on 2002.