By Scott Wright
MACFARLANE Group boss Peter Atkinson saw his pay package rise by 34 per cent during a year in which the Glasgow packaging company underlined its recovery from the pandemic.
Mr Atkinson, who has led Macfarlane since 2003, received £649,000 for 2021, up from £484,000 the year before. The package included a base salary of £369,000 and a bonus of £184,000, according to Macfarlane’s annual report, published yesterday.
Mr Atkinson’s pay increased during a year which saw Macfarlane report a forecast-beating 50 per cent rise in profits to £18.7 million against a backdrop of rising input costs and supply-chain constraints.
Results were boosted by the continued growth in demand for e-commerce solutions from retailers, and the recovery of the medical and key industrial sectors from the pandemic.
Macfarlane completed two acquisitions during the year, GWP and Carters Packaging, which contributed to revenue growth. The company also sold its long-standing labels business to The Reflex Group for £6.4 million in December.
Writing in the report, the company proposes to increase the base salary for its chief executive to £435,000 from £369,000, with the increase to be stepped up in two stages over 2022 and 2023.
Macfarlane notes that Mr Atkinson has not received a salary rise above the level of employee annual salary increases in his time with the company. With the company bound to renew its directors’ remuneration policy in 2022, Macfarlane said it aimed to protect shareholders’ interests by paying the chief executive at a level reflecting the company’s performance and to “ensure his continued retention”.
Macfarlane said: “We have been careful in putting our proposals together that they are meaningful, but not excessive, and appropriately balanced. Having market rates of pay at Macfarlane will also make us more resilient as a business.”
Shareholders will have the opportunity to vote on the updated directors’ remuneration policy, as well as the remuneration report for 2021 and a new deferred bonus plan, via resolutions at the company’s annual meeting in May.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here