ITN chief executive John Hardie received a £1.2m pay packet last year after being gifted £499,000 from a “long term incentive scheme”, according to the firm’s latest annual report.
Meanwhile staff at the London-based production company, ITN, which runs ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, had to make do with a pay rise of 1.25 per cent (for those earning up to £60,000) equal to a minimum increase of £500.
Hardie, who was paid a salary of £711,000 last year, down £23,000 on the year before, and who had a yearly pension contribution of £20,000 this year, up £5,000 on the year before, is the company’s highest paid director.
The figures, published this week, revealed ITN turned in a sixth successive year of profit growth. Operating profit rose by more than £1m to £6.9m last year, an increase of 19 per cent.
It has also seen a record year for revenue, with £119.7m made in total last year, up from £112m the year before. News revenue rose to £85.9m, up from £83m, making up 72 per cent of the total revenue.
ITN recently announced its 2020 Vision setting out targets for growth over the next five years to achieve group revenues of £180m by the end of 2020.
Hardie said: “The last few years have undoubtedly been some of the most successful in ITN’s history, producing a huge range of work for an ever-increasing number of clients and exceeding the challenging financial targets we set back in 2010.
“Thanks to this impressive progress, we have set the bar even higher as we look ahead to 2020 with an even more ambitious growth plan for the next phase of ITN’s evolution and we face the future with increasing confidence and optimism.”
Read the ITN annual report in full.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
