Choice pay deal for Long
PETER Long, 52, chief executive of package tours operator First Choice, took home £1.85m in pay and share option profits last year.
The deal included £479,000 in performance bonuses as the group reported a 20% increase in full-year profits. There was also a £131,000 contribution to his pension and a £684,546 gain on exercising share options.
His 2003 pay packet will prove less controversial than 2002's £978,000, a rise of 33% even though profits fell nearly a fifth.
Long was the group's best-paid executive, followed by Dermot Blastland, who received a total of £691,000 and made profits of £84,000 on share options. The previous year he earned £525,000.
Chairman Ian Clubb's salary was pegged at £171,000. He is being replaced in March by Sir Michael Hodgkinson.
