Ince boss enjoys one-off £500,000 'incentive'

The chief executive of listed firm Ince has received a one-off payment of £500,000, despite a ‘difficult’ year of trading, it emerged today.

According to Ince Group plc’s annual report, Adrian Biles was paid £916,000 in the year ended 31 March 2021, up from £521,000 in 2020 and £322,000 in 2019. £500,000 of his pay packet was a ‘short-term incentive linked directly to share price performance’.

In total, the group’s directors received £1.27m in remuneration in 2021, up from £1m in 2020.

Biles said the firm had made ‘steady progress’ over the past financial year, reporting a small increase in global revenue from £96.3m to £100.2. However, operating profit is down 59% at £3.1m, while diluted earnings per share fell by 96% to 0.5p.

In the report Ince attributed the decline in profits to exceptional items of £6m relating to the scaling back of its London office and settlements with former partners. Operating profit before non-underlying items stands at £9.2m – the same as last year – while adjusted diluted earnings per share stand at 8.1p, 45% lower than 2020.

The group said it cut 47 roles during the year, with an associated annual cost saving of £1.2m. It also received £1.5m through the UK government’s job retention scheme.

A spokesperson for Ince said: 'Over the last 12 months, we’ve actioned a range of measures that have stabilised the business’s overall performance, delivered double digit growth in EMEA and Asia, improved cash generation and strengthened the group’s global offering. The share price subsequently rose over 300% during the 2020/21 financial year. As a result, Adrian Biles was awarded a pre-agreed one-off short-term incentive.'

Ince Group plc shares rose to 88.2p in April 2021, up from 47p at the start of the year. They were trading at 57.11p today.