Flutter executives net multi-million-pound 2021 bonus
CEO Peter Jackson sees 2022 basic salary rise by 26% as top executive remuneration packages hit £12m in 2021
Flutter Entertainment CEO Peter Jackson was awarded a £2.6m annual bonus in 2021, according to data published as part of the FTSE 100 operator’s annual report.
Jackson was paid a fixed salary of £923,000 in 2021. The variable pay element of his salary amounted to a whopping £7.3m over the same period.
This variable element includes the £2.6m bonus as well as a redefined long-term incentive payments (LTIP) plan based on the relative total share return (TSR) of the Flutter Entertainment business over 2018 and 2019.
These awards compare investment returns for a company against peer companies over a specific time period. This was calculated at a £2.2m amount for 2018 and £2.5m in 2019, bringing the total remuneration of the Flutter CEO during 2021 up to £8.4m.
Flutter Entertainment CFO Jonathan Hill received a total remuneration package of £4.7m during 2021, inclusive of a £1.6m annual bonus.
Hill received a basic salary of £594,000 during 2021, in addition to a variable pay element of £4m, with the variable pay element inclusive of the same redefined TSR-based long-term incentive payments as his colleague.
Flutter calculated this 2018 incentive as £1.2m, rising to £1.3m in 2019.
As a justification for the high bonuses during 2021, Flutter’s remuneration committee cited the “strong performance” of its brands over the last 12 months, performance which increased the annual bonus payout close to 100% of the total available.
“Notwithstanding the extremely challenging targets, each was met in full, other than the UK&I safer gambling measure, which paid out just below maximum in the context of significantly stretching targets,” Flutter’s remuneration committee wrote in the report.
“Given the strong performance of all of our brands and divisions over the course of the year, particularly in the context of ongoing uncertainties in many of the markets in which we operate, the committee considered the level of annual bonus payout to be appropriate,” it added.
In its full-year 2021 results, Flutter reported a 17% year-on-year (YoY) increase in pro forma revenue to £6bn on a constant currency (CC) basis, punctuated by sports betting revenue growth of 27% YoY to £3.7bn and more modest igaming YoY growth of 4% to £2.2bn.
Flutter’s US division, inclusive of US market leader FanDuel, was the big winner of 2021, generating YoY growth of 113% and a divisional revenue total of £1.4bn.
To reward this growth, Flutter’s report reveals details of a value creation award directly relating to the FanDuel business, with that award set to pay out £4.5m in incentives determined by the growth in the value of the FanDuel business from September 2021 to December 2026.
Reflective of its 2021 performance, Flutter’s remuneration committee has approved a 26% basic pay increase for CEO Jackson, bringing his basic pay up to £1.1m.