Carphone Warehouse chief executive Roger Taylor is set to take home £34m in cash and shares despite the failure of US electricals retailer Best Buy in the UK, the launch of which he oversaw.

A number of bonus schemes are set to pay out, according to the annual report. The largest of these were designed to reward executives for the Best Buy Europe venture and the demerger of the company’s telecoms and TV arm TalkTalk, said The Guardian.

Taylor waived a £220,000 annual bonus, giving the money to Cancer Research UK.

In a statement Carphone said: “There are no free rides at Carphone. These incentive schemes are totally aligned with shareholder interests; they involve senior management buying shares at market price and running personal risk if the share price dropped.

“The fact they are showing profits reflects the value created in the business, the separation of Carphone and TalkTalk and the disposal of Carphone’s interest in BestBuy Mobile US.”

Already executives have taken a slice of a £51m payout in cash and shares because the Best Buy scheme paid out early after Carphone exited its US joint venture and returned £813m in profits to shareholders. Management can only sell the £5.8m of shares from June 2015.

Carphone was forced to close all 11 of the Best Buy big box stores in the UK in January after it was impacted by poor trading conditions in a tougher electricals market than expected. Carphone simultaneously pulled out of its Best Buy Mobile joint venture in the US.

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