MyTravel has defended the whopping £3.5 million paid to chief executive Peter McHugh as he guided the company to financial security.
McHugh received a basic salary in the 13 month period to October 31 of £535,000 which was supplemented with a bonus of the same amount.
In addition, he pocketed a cool £2 million following the restructuring of the company and a further £482,000 in ‘benefits’.
A MyTravel spokesman emphasised the £2m bonus followed the “successful restructuring” of the business.
“2005 was a good year for MyTravel in which we continued to make progress towards our strategic goals,” the spokesman said. “Excluding the impact of fuel, we would have been a year ahead of our turnaround targets and we continue to target an operational profit of 3.5% in the UK in 2007.”
McHugh can take much of the credit for the turnaround of MyTravel which was in turmoil after posting a £190 million loss in 2003.
Other senior directors were also well rewarded for keeping the business afloat.
Finance director John Allkins received a handsome £1.23 million, including a basic salary of £350,000, a bonus of £350,000 and an additional half a million for the successful restructure.
Details of the payouts are included in MyTravel’s 2005 Annual Report which is available on the company website.
Report by Steve Jones
