Compass directors take £2.5m in cash as their share options mature

Four of Compass Group's directors cashed in share options worth £2.5m last week.

Chairman Sir Francis Mackay sold 400,000 shares worth £1.4m, while chief executive Michael Bailey pocketed executive share options worth £455,273. Andrew Lynch, head of Compass's international travel concession business Select Service Partner (SSP), and executive director Clive Grundy both cashed in executive share options valued at £269,000.

A spokeswoman for Compass said that these transactions were not large enough to affect the directors' stakes in the company significantly and were cashed in as a result of share options maturing.

She added: "These options are part of the director's remuneration packages, which are target led. It is because targets have been met and because Compass has performed so well that the directors can exercise their share options."

The spokeswoman added that Compass was not a company where directors were rewarded for "poor performance". "All the remuneration packages are agreed and put together by outside consultants," she added.

Meanwhile, Compass announced this week that SSP had acquired the loss-making Mitropa AG, a German travel concession business, for about g17.6m (£12.3m). Mitropa operates in about 60 railway stations and 30 motorway services across the country. Last year it had sales of g115m (£80.5m), but carried a small operating loss.