ROGER White, chief executive of AG Barr, had his annual bonus cut from £253,000 to £161,000 in the Irn-Bru manufacturer's last financial year as he oversaw a 6% rise in underlying profits in tough market conditions.

Other directors also saw their awards cut in spite of the ceiling for payouts under the annual bonus scheme being raised during the year to January 28 from 75% to 100% of basic salary.

Mr White's total emoluments fell to £524,000 in the year to January 28, from £570,000 in the prior 12 months. This reflected a drop in his annual bonus to £161,000, a level which is just short of half of his effective basic salary, from £253,000 in the prior 12 months.

Asked by The Herald about the fall in bonuses for himself and other AG Barr directors, Mr White replied: "Without going into the details, the targets are set and are stretching. Our remuneration committee has always believed that bonuses have to be earned. The bonuses we have earned reflect the stretching targets."

Pressed on whether he believed AG Barr had more stretching targets for remuneration than other companies, Mr White replied: "I couldn't comment on that, I don't think."

He added: "As the report and accounts show, we run a fairly standard approach as far as remuneration goes but we have always taken the view that we will align the interests, from a reward point of view, of the directors with shareholders and we make the delivery stretching."

Executive pay is currently a topic of fierce debate. Barclays chief Bob Diamond's multi-million-pound package will be in the spotlight at the bank's annual meeting today in London. The Institute of Directors (IoD) has criticised executive pay at Barclays.

The IoD, which has called for more diverse remuneration committees "to tackle excessive executive pay", said yesterday that "out-of-control remuneration at some FTSE companies is damaging the reputation of British business as a whole".

The Confederation of British Industry, responding today to a Government consultation on shareholder voting rights, says "executive remuneration must always be squarely linked to performance". It acknowledges this link "needs to be made more transparent and in some cases strengthened" but asserts there is no "cosy club of business leaders setting pay for each other".

Mr White's gross salary in the year to January is stated in AG Barr's annual report at £322,000, although this is stated after a deduction of £26,000 for a pension scheme contribution. Adding this back, his effective basic salary of £348,000 is up nearly 4% on his overall gross salary of £336,000 for the prior 12 months.

Mr White's benefits-in-kind jumped from £14,000 to £47,000, although he noted this rise reflected "more of an administrative change" relating to his exit from the company car scheme.

AG Barr achieved a 6% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £33.6 million in the year to January 28.

Commercial director Jonathan Kemp's emoluments dropped from £370,000 to £294,000. His annual bonus fell from £142,000 to £91,000.

Finance director Alex Short saw his emoluments fall to £334,000 from £496,000. But this reflected a steep fall in his bonus from £286,000 to £102,000, which in large part resulted from the exchange of a long-term incentive plan award for a cash bonus to buy shares in the year to January 2011 to "optimise the tax treatment".

The emoluments of operations director Andrew Memmott, who like Mr Short converted an LTIP award to a cash bonus to buy shares in the prior year, fell to £267,000 from £396,000 as his bonus fell from £220,000 to £81,000.

AG Barr unveiled plans yesterday to sub-divide each of its shares into three new Ordinary shares.