STAGECOACH chief executive Martin Griffiths has seen a bumper rise in its annual pay package as the transport giant scales back its participation in major UK rail franchises.

Mr Griffiths received remuneration totalling £1.8 million for the year ended April 27, with earnings boosted by a short-term, performance-related bonus of £848,000, according to the group’s 2019 annual report, published yesterday. His remuneration totalled £987,000 the year before.

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Finance chief Ross Paterson also saw his 2019 remuneration boosted by a performance-linked bonus of £565,000, which took his total pay package to £1.22m.

The earnings for the group’s top executives emerged at a tumultuous time for Stagecoach, which revealed its intention to effectively withdraw from bidding for major rail contracts in June.

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The dramatic move came amid legal action being taken by the Perth-based group against the UK Government, which follows the decision by the Department for Transport (DfT) to disqualify its bids for three major rail franchises - East Midlands, West Coast Partnership and South Eastern.

In June, Stagecoach reported profits of £101.2m for year ended April 27, up from £77.6m. 

The period saw it complete the $271m sale of its North American division.