No bonuses for Marston's top brass

Top executives at Midlands' brewer Marston's have missed out on bonuses in 2008 collectively worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

According to the brewer's annual report none of its executive directors, including chief executive Ralph Findlay, received a bonus in 2008, a year in which the group's turnover rose by nearly 10 per cent while pre-tax profits fell by more than three per cent.

In the absence of a bonus - which in 2007 came in at £75,000 - and with the value of 'non-cash benefits' slashed from £16,200 in 2007 to just under £1,000 last year, Findlay's total 2008 pay package fell 8.7 per cent to £451,911.

Findlay's executive colleagues also saw their total pay reduced as a result of non-payment of bonuses and drastically curtailed non-cash benefits, which principally relate to areas such as private health cover and life insurance payments.

Finance director Paul Inglett saw his total 2008 pay fall 8.4 per cent to £274,641, while tenanted pub boss Alistair Darby's remuneration for the year fell almost 10 per cent to £257,467.

The salary of Marston's managed inns' supremo Derek Andrew fell 7.7 per cent to £275,383, while brewery chief Stephen Oliver - who job swapped with Darby earlier in the year - saw his total pay fall 6.4 per cent to £274,641.

Marston's move to cut a quarter of a million pounds worth of bonuses from its top brass comes after Ted Tuppen, chief executive at Enterprise Inns, the country's second largest pubco, saw his total pay for 2008 cut by nearly a third to £634,000 following the cancellation of his own bonus, which in 2007 was £345,000.

However Tuppen was paid a 'salary supplement' in 2008 of £153,000 in lieu of a contribution to his personal pension scheme, according to the group's annual report.