Two Compass bosses turn down bonuses

Two Compass bosses - chairman Sir Francis Mackay and chief executive Mike Bailey - have both declined to take their bonuses following the company's poor performance in 2004.

The contract catering giant warned in September that its profits would be £30m below market expectations.

However, it was revealed in the company's final accounts, released last week, that the directors were still entitled to receive 25% of their bonuses for hitting one of four performance-related targets.

Despite this, both Mackay and Bailey turned down the extra cash, which cut Mackay's remuneration from £1.26m in 2003 to £546,000. Similarly, Bailey's package was slashed from £2.62m to £1m.

A company spokesman said that neither boss "felt it appropriate" to take the payments, despite the fact that Compass achieved its organic growth target of 7% in the year.

However, operating profits at the company fell from £797m in 2003 to £775m last year, and the company's shares have collapsed from 385p a year ago to just 247.5p on Monday.

The other four directors all claimed their bonuses, worth a total of £881,000. The highest paid director was Alan Dupuis, who received a bonus of £623,000 for hitting his targets for growth in Asia, reflecting Compass's growth in China in particular, taking his total package to £1.1m.