7 MARCH 2017 • 8:03PM
AstraZeneca's chief executive, Pascal Soriot, enjoyed a 68pc surge in his annual pay packet last year as a number of long-term incentive plans and other rewards paid off.
Mr Soriot's base salary increased from £1.17m in 2015 to £1.19m in 2016, according to the pharmaceutical company's annual report.
Although his annual bonus nearly halved from £2.04m to £1.168m – a third of which will be paid in shares - he earned £6.91m as part of a long-term incentive plan and a further one-off payment of £3.62m in compensation for bonuses he forfeited when he left his previous employer. This last award won’t, however, be paid out for another four years.
It brings the Frenchman’s total pay package for 2016, including other benefits and pension contributions, to £13.4m, up from £7.96m a year earlier.
AstraZeneca's remuneration committee has also proposed changes the way some long-term bonuses are structured, which it said would make them more fair and promote long-term thinking. This year, senior executives will get a 2.5pc increase in their basic salaries.
The changes will be put to shareholders at AstraZeneca's annual general meeting later this year.
Last year, AstraZeneca faced a possible shareholder rebellion over proposed changes to the remuneration policy. In the end, 90pc voted to back it.
Mr Soriot, a former veterinary surgeon, joined AstraZeneca in 2012 and has overseen a major investment programme in R&D to bulk up the pipeline as the company's most cash-generative drugs went off patent. This year is a crucial one for Mr Soriot, as AstraZeneca is due to report the results of several key clinical trials in its oncology, diabetes and asthma portfolios.
These drugs have the potential to be game-changers and could reverse previous years of profit declines.
