What £2.76 Can Get You

[tramssirhc]

From Private Eye 1680 24 July - 6 August 2026

"As Eye 1625 predicted, the chief executive, whose board was persuaded to recommend the takeover (after previously resisting it) fared particularly well. Once the ink was dry on the deal, a "long term incentive plan" was "accelerated" and thanks to the elevated prices of shares... paid out big time.

Whilst the precise payout isn't known, the effect was to increase [one workers] pay from £2.1 million in 2024/25 to £6.9 million in 2025/26.

All this comes despite finances looking ever more beleaguered, with pre-tax profits adjusted for one-off items falling by 40 percent to £126 million. Things weren't helped by...... the bankers and advisers costs on the sale... which have reached £85 million. And there's the small matter of setting aside £150 million for fines, legal claims and a tax dispute in Italy.

Then come the costs of funding the takeover. In the first year of ownership, £114 million had to be found to pay the interest on loans taken out to pay for the acquisition".

Maybe Martin Walsh can tell us if he brought these costs up when he calculated his cost per item figure.