BNFL chief receives 18% pay rise despite £2.3bn losses
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Your support makes all the difference.The chief executive of British Nuclear Fuels received an 18 per cent pay rise last year even though the state-owned reprocessing company plunged to a £2.3bn loss, the biggest in its history.
BNFL's report and accounts, published yesterday, show that Norman Askew's pay went up from £433,000 in 2000-01 to £509,000 an increase of £76,000.
The bulk of the increase was due to a rise in Mr Askew's annual bonus to £136,510 compared with £75,250 the previous year. His basic pay went up from £350,000 to £365,000.
A BNFL spokesman defended the pay increase on the grounds that Mr Askew and the rest of the management had met their targets for improving the operating performance of the business.
The £2.3bn loss came after BNFL took a £1.94bn charge to reflect the increase in its historic nuclear liabilities. These are now calculated at £40.5bn.
Excluding this huge one-off item and a £375m charge to cover the early closure of two of BNFL's Magnox power stations, the company made a £22m profit compared with a £210m loss in the previous year.
The pay of John Edwards, BNFL's finance director, rose from £247,000 to £374,000 although he was only with the company for nine months in the 2000-01 financial year. Hugh Collum, the chairman, received £171,000 compared with £170,000 the previous year.
The report and accounts also disclose that BNFL, despite being a government-owned company, does not meet the highest standards of corporate governance. Directors do not put themselves up for re-election at least every three years and there is no senior independent non-executive director.
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