Senior Flutter executives share £11.7m pay packet

Bonuses more than trebled top executives' pay at Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment to £11.7 million (€13.7 million) last year, according to the company's annual report.

Dublin-based Flutter, owner of the Irish bookie and Betfair, merged with rival Stars Group last May, adding Pokerstars and Skybet to its stable to create the world's biggest gambling business.

Figures in the group's annual report show that it paid chief executive Peter Jackson a total of £7.5 million last year, up from £2 million in 2019.

His fixed pay was £976,000, with an annual bonus of £2.35 million and £3.7 million of share options given under a long-term incentive plan making up much of the rest.

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Fixed pay

Flutter paid chief financial officer Jonathan Hill £4.2 million last year, up from from £1.35 million in 2019.

His fixed pay was £669,000, while he received a bonus of £1.48 million and a long-term incentive payment of £1.9 million.

Neither Mr Jackson nor Mr Hill received any long-term incentive plan payments in 2019.

Flutter’s remuneration committee agreed that they should be included in its existing 2018 long-term incentive plan. The share options granted under this scheme are due to vest next year.

Mr Jackson will receive 27,261 shares, which the report values at £3.7 million based on Flutter’s average share price in the final three months of 2020. Mr Hill will get 14,181 shares valued at £1.9 million on the same terms.

The number of options granted under the scheme is tied to the returns that Flutter generated for its shareholders.

Earnings growth outside the US determined 65 per cent of both executives’ annual bonuses, 25 per cent of those payments were tied the US division’s revenue performance while 10 per cent was determined by their success in executing Flutter’s safer gambling policy.

Safer gambling

They exceeded all targets except safer gambling, where the committee determined they earned 8.4 per cent rather than the full 10 per cent allocated to this.

Mr Jackson’s basic salary totalled £840,000, he received benefits of £10,000 and £126,000 cash in lieu of pension contributions, which means that he is not entitled to a payout from any company scheme.

His salary at the start of the year was £740,000, which the company increased to £766,000 in March and £900,000 in June, following the merger.

Mr Hill’s basic salary totalled £569,000, benefits were £15,000 and his cash payment in lieu of pension contributions was £85,000.

Flutter’s operating profit last year rose 141 per cent to £676 million. However, charges for the Stars Group merger left with a pretax profit of £1.15 million.