Enterprise directors awarded shares

Enterprise Inns chief executive Ted Tuppen has been granted 613,614 performance award shares in the company.

Tuppen was also granted 306,807 matching shares after investing in 153,403 shares in the pubco.

Chief operating officer Simon Townsend was also granted 368,168 performance award shares and 184,084 matching award shares after investing in 92,042 shares.

The awards were made under the terms of the Enterprise Inns 2005 Long Term Incentive Plan for the financial year beginning 1 October 2010. Two matching award shares are made for every one investment share under the plan.

A third of the performance and matching shares become exercisable on ech of the third, fourth and fifth anniversary date of the grant, "subject to the satisfaction of a challenging performance condition".

Tuppen and Townsend came under fire at the end of last year after it was revealed Tuppen enjoyed a 51% earnings increase in the company's most recent financial year to 30 September 2010 — earning a total of £1,223,000 compared to £811,000 the year before.

Chief operating officer Simon Townsend enjoyed a 55% increase in pay with a total of £738,000 including a basic salary of £384,000, £23,000 in benefits and £331,000 in performance-related bonus — he earned a total of £475,000 in 2009.

Tuppen's adversary, Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland, tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament condemning the bonus increase as "excessive and insensitive" in a year when it reported a 5% decline in like-for-like net income per pub and did not pay out a dividend.

He noted it came in the same year it received a £300,000 fine over the a death of Paul Lee at the Aintree Hotel, Liverpool for a faulty gas fire.