Tesco boss Ken Murphy has bagged an extra £1 million in salary and bonuses after he saw his total annual pay package swell to £10.8 million.
The supermarket giant’s latest annual report showed Mr Murphy picked up a £3.4 million annual bonus and £5.7 million in share awards for 2025-26, after the firm achieved £3.15 billion in earnings for the year to February 28, up from £3.13 billion the previous year.
The group also notched up its highest share of the market for more than a decade as sales, excluding VAT and fuel, grew by 4.6% to £66.6 billion for the past year.
Mr Murphy’s mammoth pay compares with a £9.8 million package in 2024-25.
The report also showed the chief executive’s basic annual salary will increase by another 3% to £1.54 million on May 24, while chief financial officer Imran Nawaz will receive an 8.2% hike to £900,000.
Melissa Bethell, chairwoman of the Tesco board remuneration committee, said in the report: “The remuneration for our executive directors is closely tied to the strong performance of the business.
“Our policy is comparable to other FTSE 50 companies and reflects the complexities of managing a large-scale operation.
“A significant portion of the total package has been achieved due to Ken Murphy and Imran Nawaz meeting or exceeding challenging targets in a competitive sector, creating value for all stakeholders.”
The report showed Mr Murphy picked up his long-term share award bonus despite the group not meeting its target for reducing food waste by 50%, only achieving a 24% drop in 2025-26.
The firm is removing the food waste target from the three-year long-term performance share plan (PSP) bonus scheme going forwards.
Tesco said: “While food waste continues to be an important part of our strategy, we feel confident that we will achieve our targeted 50% reduction (vs a 2017 baseline) by the completion of the 2025 performance share plan cycle.
“This gives us the opportunity to evolve the 2026 PSP scheme to align to future strategic priorities, which will run to 2029.”
The group recently announced a 5.1% hike for workers across the business, which it said was an investment of more than £200 million.
This followed a £65 million bonus award shared between staff across stores, warehouses and customer engagement centres after increasing sales and profits in the last financial year.
The pay details come days after Tesco received a setback in a lengthy legal battle over an equal pay claim, when the Court of Appeal threw out the chain’s challenge to the way an employment tribunal had been assessing the value of jobs carried out by its customer assistants.
It is among a raft of unequal pay claims brought against some of the biggest retailers in the UK.
A separate case against fellow supermarket Morrisons opened earlier this month.
