$2m bonus cut for Telecom boss

Paul Reynolds. Photo / APN

Telecom boss Paul Reynolds has had $2 million from his annual bonus slashed as the company reported a 0.2 per cent fall in full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda).

In the year ending June, Reynolds received a $900,000 bonus under the "performance incentive scheme," compared with $3 million the year before. The scheme, set annually by the board, is designed to reward the CEO for achieving specific target levels of performance such as ebitda.

In additional to his $1.75 million base salary and the "long-term incentive" component worth $2.1 million, his total salary and incentive package for the year ending June was $5 million. It includes $338,111 for personal travel between New Zealand and Britain plus accommodation costs and payment for tax advice.

In its annual report released on Friday, Telecom also announced a change to its long-term incentives scheme for next year, paying it in cash rather than with shares.

The telco announced it had halted significant earnings declines, pointing to a fall of 0.2 per cent in full-year adjusted ebitda.

Telecom reported a 4.5 per cent fall in its bottom line full-year net profit to $380 million, with revenue down 6.5 per cent to $5.27 billion.

Adjusted ebitda to June was $1.76 billion, and for the fourth quarter rose 5.4 per cent to $428 million.

"Telecom has halted the significant earnings decline of the previous two years and achieved notable improvements in the trajectory of each of its businesses," Reynolds said.

The fall in revenue mainly reflected continued competitive and price pressure in the legacy fixed line businesses.

"Chorus, Gen-i and AAPT have each delivered ebitda growth for the year, and the turnaround in the retail business is on track."

- NZPA