Currys hands outgoing boss Alex Baldock £2m pay rise

FTSE 250 giant Currys has handed its outgoing boss Alex Baldock a more-than-£2 m pay rise, capping off the chief executive’s successful turnaround of the business.

The electrical retailer handed Baldock a £6.3m total pay package this year, marking a 54 per cent hike from last year’s £4.1m.

Baldock joined Currys in 2018 and is set to depart at the end of August to join high street chemist Boots as it gears up for a potential London IPO. 

The Currys chief executive saw his base salary upped by one per cent to just more than £1m. But most of Baldock’s pay rise was made up of a huge boost to his performance incentive payments, which more than tripled to £5.2m.

The firm’s remuneration committee said Baldock will not be able to claim remaining performance-based share awards once he steps down. But he will be allowed to hold shares worth up to 250 per cent of his final salary for two years following his departure. 

On Wednesday, Baldock offloaded more than 1.7m of his shares in the retailer for an average price of 165p, in a sale worth nearly £2.9m. 

Currys said it decided to allow executive directors Baldock and Bruce Marsh to claim up to 175 per cent of their salary in bonuses, through performance targets based on earnings and electrical waste. 

“These are all key areas for Currys, where strong performance ensures that we continue to build a differentiated offering from competitors,” the committee said.

Baldock was praised by analysts when he stepped down from Currys in March, with stock broker Panmure Liberum saying the retailer “has never been in better shape”.

His turnaround focused on slimming down the retailer’s store estate, boosting online sales and emphasising its use as a repairs and subscription provider as well as an electricals seller.

Earlier this month, Currys posted an 18 per cent jump in pre-tax profit to £153m and launched a £50m share buyback scheme. 

The electrical retailer has announced Frederik Tonnesen, the current boss of its Nordic operations, as Baldock’s successor. Baldock will join Boots as the high street chemist is caught between sales talks with the billionaire Weston family and plans for a London IPO.

Currys shares rose by 0.7 per cent on Thursday morning to 168p.