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Shareholders yesterday agreed to spend more on Fletcher Building directors, but chief executive Jonathan Ling said the rise would not necessarily equate to a direct pay rise for each one.
Rather, it would allow the board to appoint another member if needed and set the pay scale for coming years.
While there is provision to pay the seven non-executive directors up to $900,000 this year, next year they will get $1.5 million. Chairman Rod Deane said this was the first group increase in the company's five-year history.
Deane said directors of the New Zealand-headquartered Fletchers got less than directors in Australian-based companies, citing a report by consultants Egan & Associates.
Deane, Geoffrey McGrath, Sir Dryden Spring, Ralph Waters, Paul Baines, Kerrin Vautier and Hugh Fletcher are Fletcher's non-executive directors. Last year, directors were paid $777,800 in total, with Deane being paid $255,000 and the others getting around $100,000 each.
Ling is an executive director so he does not get a cut of the $1.5 million, but he will be richly rewarded for heading the successful company.
He gets a $900,000 base salary and an option to buy 500,000 Fletcher shares in three years' time at $9.24 each, but this price will rise depending on Fletcher's cost of capital. He gets an annual cash bonus of around $675,000 if the company continues to succeed.
