Meet the retail bosses who earn around R70,000 a day
Listed retail group Clicks has published a trading statement, reporting a stronger than expected performance in the second half of its 2019 financial year.
The group told shareholders to expect headline earnings to jump between 15% and 18%, when it reports its full year financials towards the end of October.
Clicks is one of the few listed retailers in South Africa that has seen a stronger performance in what has become an incredibly challenging economic environment – particularly around consumer spending.
Woolworths recently presented its annual results, showing muted profit growth of 2.5%, driven largely through its food segment – while Pick n Pay fared better in its annual results earlier in the year, seeing profits jump 7.8%.
On the other side of the spectrum, Shoprite has suffered in the current economic climate, seeing profits fall by over 18% in the year, while Massmart posted its first loss in 20 years.
Executive pay
Despite the mixed results in the retail sector, chief executives in the space are still very well paid.
In FY 2018, former Clicks CEO David Kneale (who fully stepped down from the company at the end of August 2019) took home R70 million for the year – however, this was largely due to the payout of his long-term incentive scheme.
The second top-earner in the retail space is Pick n Pay’s chief executive, Richard Brasher, who earned R32.5 million for the year.
In terms of basic salaries, the likes of Woolworths’ Ian Moir and Shoprite’s chief executive Pieter Englebrecht were the biggest earners, with R18.9 million and R16.1 million, respectively.
Ignoring bonuses and benefits paid out, Moir earned R51,800 per day (split across 365 days) – compared to Kneale’s R27,150 per day. These figures could be much higher, considering there are around 261 work days in a year.
The table below outlines how South Africa’s retail bosses got paid in the latest available financial year (2018 and 2019, as indicated).
* Kneale stepped down as Clicks CEO at the end of August 2019
The graph below outlines how the total pay is split between basic salary and bonuses and benefits.
