The publicity-shy boss of a Footsie data and publishing giant will bag over £12m in share awards next month as his earnings head towards £200m. Erik Engstrom has been paid £126m since taking over Relx when it was still known as Reed Elsevier in November 2009.
In that time, the shares have risen 750 per cent as the Swedish businessman transformed it into the fifth largest company on the London stock market with a value of £73billion. Relx is worth more than oil major BP and is around twice the value of defence giant BAE Systems and bank NatWest.
The company's success has proved hugely lucrative for Engstrom, 61, who already owns around 1.2m shares worth approximately £46m. Based on market prices, the London-based executive could bag a further £48m of shares over the next two years in long-term bonuses.
Some £12.2m of those shares are due to vest in February. Shareholders have done well under Engstrom and on February 13 he is expected to unveil strong annual results. Analysts believe that Relx will say that its profits rose 19 per cent to £2.7billion last year as revenues climbed from £9.2billion to £9.5billion.
As a result, they forecast a hike in the full-year dividend from 58.6p to 62.5p per share, which would take the total payout for the 2024 financial year to £1.2billion. A source close to the company said that given the job he has done, investors were happy for Engstrom to be among the best-paid executives in the country.
