7:53 am, June 19, 2024
Former Pendragon boss and now Pinewood CEO Bill Berman could be in line for another multi-million pound pay deal if shareholders agree to it next week.
The American boss of the listed technology company could be awarded cash and shares to the equivalent of £7.8m at today’s share price.
The complicated deal, which hands Berman cash and shares in relation to this year’s performance and a deferred bonus from last year, will be discussed at a general meeting on Wednesday, June 26.
The deal includes a salary of £575,000, benefits and supplements worth around £190,000 and a bonus of £862,500.
However, shareholders may grumble at two share incentive schemes that could hand Berman around £6m if the company’s share price remains at its current level.
If the company increases its share price by 50% over the next three years the Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) and Deferred Share Plan (DSP) could even be worth as much as £8.3m.
The incentives pay out in shares in the company with the LTIP worth 1,256,068 shares and the DSP worth 412,621 shares, the latter is in relation to his 2023 bonus which was deferred.
At a share price of 371p the LTIP is worth £4.6m and the DSP some £1.5m. Pinewood shares closed last night at 385p.
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One Pinewood shareholder who spoke to Car Dealer said: ‘Berman had a huge pay day as a result of the sale of Pendragon’s dealerships to Lithia.
‘This included a £1.1m “transition bonus” which is paid by Lithia to Berman, the likes of which I have never heard of, or seen, before.
‘This new deal is huge and while the dust is in people’s eyes over the Lithia deal I can see this slipping through.
‘The sums are huge and are calculated on the back of an estimated value for the company at a 206p share price. Today shares are trading far higher, upwards of 371p, so the deal could be worth a huge amount.’
Berman was handed a whopping £8.9m after the Lithia deal went through.
This included a bonus of £825,000 (which has been deferred), that transition bonus from Lithia for £1.1m, and LTIPs worth around £6.1m.
Berman has said he will ‘voluntarily’ defer all of his 2023 bonus ‘into an award under the new DSP’, he will therefore receive it in three years’ times.
Pinewood said a condition of the 2024 LTIP will be that Berman is ‘required to acquire or maintain an interest in shares… equivalent to at least 100% of salary’.
Pinewood was given the opportunity to comment, but declined.
