Coca-Cola chief bags £500k ‘cost-of-living’ handout

The boss of Coca-Cola HBC has pocketed more than £500,000 in ‘cost of living’ benefits in the last two years.

Zoran Bogdanovic, chief executive of the soft drinks bottling giant, received the payments as part of an overall salary, bonus and perks package adding up to a staggering £8million over the two years.

The astonishing figures from the Mail on Sunday, the sister title of This is Money, highlight the lavish handouts received by the very well paid bosses of some of Britain’s biggest companies.

These perks include generous allowances for their partners, commuting costs and designer clothes. Other benefits include subsidised housing, club memberships and home security costs.

Bogdanovic was paid £4.1million last year, including almost £400,000 in benefits. He picked up a ‘cost of living and foreign exchange rate adjustment’ of £285,000 and a housing allowance of £91,000. He also received a ‘home trip allowance’ of £2,240 and a ‘partner allowance’ of £860.

Shareholders recently railed against Bogdanovic’s pay package. In one of the biggest protests against executive excess this year, almost a third of them voted against the company’s pay report.

However, such votes are not binding and boards can simply thumb their noses at investors.

Although the company’s shares are quoted in London, Bogdanovic, a Croatian national, is based at Coca-Cola HBC’s headquarters in Zug, the upscale hedge fund capital of Switzerland where living costs are considerably higher than in his homeland.

HBC – whose partner the Coca-Cola Company features singer Rita Ora in a recent advertising campaign – declined to comment.

Bogdanovic’s pay package concerns UK small investors and pension savers because as a member of the elite FTSE 100 index, Coca-Cola HBC shares are automatically included in popular index tracker funds.

Share performance has lagged the index since Coca-Cola HBC joined the main London stock market in 2013.

As ordinary employees were forced to pay more for their daily commutes, a number of FTSE 100 bosses received tens of thousands of pounds to be chauffeured to their offices. Fresnillo boss Octavio Alvidrez received £38,000 last year for his driver.

Other executives to enjoy the perks of the top job include new Burberry boss Jonathan Akeroyd, who raked in £4.3million last year, including the maximum £50,000 allowed for a car and designer clothing.

Lavish: Pop star Rita Ora stars in Coca-Cola’s latest advertising campaign

Jack Bowles, head of British American Tobacco, enjoyed a £1.3million payday including £33,000 in costs for the ‘annual maintenance and monitoring’ of his personal and home security system. He also received £39,000 for a chauffeur.

National Grid’s John Pettigrew has the use of a car and driver – a perk that cost the energy giant £43,500 – and he also received a £12,000 company car allowance.

Pettigrew’s £7.3 million package puts him among the highest-paid FTSE 100 bosses. He previously claimed half a million pounds to move from Leamington Spa to London in 2019.

Luis Gallego, who heads British Airways owner IAG, was paid a £250,000 a year ‘transitionary allowance’ for keeping homes in Madrid and London.

Tesco boss Ken Murphy received £102,000 to commute from his family home in Ireland to the firm’s HQ in Hertfordshire.