Persimmon boss to give “substantial” amount of his multi-million-pound bonus to charity
The chief executive of York-headquartered housebuilder Permission is to give a “substantial” amount of his £110m bonus away through a charitable trust he is setting up.
It is not known how much of the bonus Jeff Fairburn will donate but the decision comes after he received criticism in December for receiving the bonus from an uncapped scheme which was set up before he joined the firm.
In January, Persimmon updated the markets ahead of its final results for the year to the end of December, stating that revenues for 2017 stood at £3.42bn – 9% higher than the prior year.
In a statement released yesterday, Fairburn said: “Persimmon’s success as a business and the uncapped nature of the scheme has meant that the value of these awards has become very large.
“The introduction of the scheme pre-dates my appointment as chief executive and I would like to make it clear that I did not seek these levels of award nor do I consider it right to keep them entirely for myself.
“Once it became apparent that our outperformance would lead to a very significant award for me, I made plans to use a substantial proportion of the total to support the charities that are particularly important to me and my family. But, in what might be considered to be an old-fashioned approach, I believed that this was a personal matter and that I would be able to do this privately. It’s now clear that this belief was misplaced and so I am making my plans public and recognise that I should have done so sooner.
“I hope that this statement will clarify my position as we continue our mission to build the high quality, affordable family homes that Britain so badly needs. I am proud of what Persimmon has achieved under my tenure as CEO and after 28 years’ service there is much more that I still hope to do. I look forward to building the business further in the coming years.”
The bonus scheme was set up in 2012 and will see more than £500m be given to 140 senior staff. Fairburn has collected £50m of shares and will qualify for another £60m this year.
Persimmon’s chairman, Nicholas Wrigley, chairman of the remuneration committee, Jonathan Davie, resigned from the Board in December over the scheme, which had been criticised by shareholders.
At the time, Persimmon announced: “The Board believes that the introduction of the 2012 LTIP has been a significant factor in the Company’s outstanding performance over this period, led by a strong and talented Executive team. Nevertheless, Nicholas and Jonathan recognise that the 2012 LTIP could have included a cap. In recognition of this omission, they have therefore tendered their resignations.”
