Steve Rowe’s pay incentive is not just any bonus, it’s an M&S turnaround bonus – and a pretty substantial one at that.

But while the £1.8m package shone further light on the growing disparity between the pay of retail executives and shop floor workers, today’s headlines surrounding Rowe’s potential share awards in 2019 should be placed into perspective.

Okay, details of his possible bonus have emerged at an awkward time for the business, just months after it revealed it was axing premium pay rates for working anti-social hours, and weeks after firming up plans to shutter 30 stores.

Yet Rowe has a mammoth task on his hands to rejuvenate M&S’s fortunes and, even if he completes the job, his reward for doing so is far from out of the ordinary.

The £1.8m places him on a par with the benefits Sainsbury’s boss Mike Coupe and Tesco finance chief Alan Stewart received in 2015/16.

And the likes of Next supremo Lord Wolfson (£4m) and Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis (£3.3m) raked in much bigger bonuses last year.

If Rowe can revive Marks & Spencer’s ailing fashion fortunes, surely he will be worth every penny.

Elsewhere, Amazon is seemingly gearing up to bring its cashless bricks-and-mortar grocery store to these shores after trademarking Amazon Go in the UK, and House of Fraser chairman Frank Slevin has had his say on a turbulent period of executive departures and volatile trading.

Quote of the day

“I love every day” 

House of Fraser chairman Frank Slevin insists he is still enjoying the job despite going through tough times

Today in numbers

90%

The proportion of jobs in the British food and drink supply chain that are occupied by EU workers from outside the UK

Monday’s agenda

With no financial updates on the agenda, check out our video interview with Notonthehighstreet.com boss Simon Belsham, who talks experiential retailing, Christmas and building his dream board.

Luke Tugby, deputy news editor

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