Shoprite’s top man, Whitey Basson, took home a little more than R100m in the year to June 30 2016 – an amount double his earnings in 2015 – after delivering what the group called excellent results during the period, a report today in South Africa’s Business Day said.

In the naira, the currency of Nigeria, where Shoprite has in the past few years experience breath-taking expansion, this amounts to a whopping N1.15 billion bonus and a take-home of N2.3bn as a rand exchanges for about N23 naira.

The group’s annual integrated financial report showed that Basson took home R49.7m in basic pay, and was awarded a one-off discretionary cash bonus adding another R50m, Business Day said.

The paper said that in its rationale, the remuneration committee said it took into consideration the fact that Basson had not claimed any increases in three years. He had not received any short-term incentive payments nor had he received benefits from any long-term incentive plans in the past five years, the committee said, according to the report.

It added that the committee had also factored in Basson’s length of service to the company of about 45 years and the results the group had achieved in the 2016 financial year “during very challenging economic circumstances.”

In the report, the committee tackled questions from shareholders who sought clarity about the reason for Basson’s total guaranteed pay being higher than market levels in SA, the report said. It further quoted the committee as saying that as a major multinational retailer, the Shoprite CEO’s pay was geared to be internationally competitive and that Basson’s shareholding in the company “aligns his interests with those of the shareholders over a long-term horizon.”

“It is common market knowledge that both locally and internationally, the group has outperformed its peer companies over the past 10 years in terms of growth and shareholder return. This strong growth was the foundation for the group’s expansion into Africa, with Shoprite being the largest retailer on the African continent for a number of years. Such growth is spearheaded by strong leadership,” the committee said.

Business Day referred to the report of professional services firm PwC that the average increase in total guaranteed package for executive directors of JSE-listed companies in 2015 was between 3% and 12%. It noted that CEOs in the largest companies got an average guaranteed package of R7.7m.

•Photo shows Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson.

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