AMP rewards chief after turnaround

SYDNEY - AMP chief executive Andrew Mohl's pay packet jumped 20 per cent to A$6.2 million ($6.75 million) last year, as he turned around massive losses for the superannuation and funds management group.

Mohl's total remuneration for 2004 was up from A$5.16 million the previous year, according to AMP's annual report released yesterday.

The increase was mainly due to a rise in incentive payments and options.

Mohl's base salary actually went down, from A$1.5 million to A$1.35 million.

His pay increase came as he pulled AMP out of the red, with the company reaping a A$934 million net profit for the 2004 year - a big turnaround from the A$5.54 billion in losses the previous year due to writedowns as AMP split from its disastrous UK business, HHG.

AMP is now rewarding its patient shareholders with a capital return of around A$750 million, or 40 cents per share.

The group expects to be in a position to return more excess capital to shareholders in 2006, forecasting its underlying return on equity to rise strongly this year.

Mohl said the group was well positioned to build on the encouraging results of 2004.

"We operate in an attractive, high-growth market - the retirement savings market - which has projected longer-term growth rates well above the economy as a whole," he said in the annual report.

"There is no doubt that this is a very competitive market and we face some challenges in 2005."

Mohl said that AMP Financial Services' operating margins would need to grow through the loss mid-year of transitional tax relief that had been in place since July 2000.

"We are confident of the business' ability to continue to grow operating margins this year, albeit at a more moderate pace than in 2004," he said.

He added that AMP also expected solid growth in AMP Capital Investors' operating margins in 2005.

AMP shares closed seven cents higher at $A7.08.

- AAP