Ulrik Bengtsson forgoes bonus as William Hill freezes executive pay

William Hill CEO Ulrik Bengtsson and his executive team will not receive salary increases or bonuses for 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bengtsson decided against accepting the 2020 Performance Share Plan award made to him on 9 March 2020, while William Hill has withdrawn the 2020 bonus scheme for executive directors, the leadership team and other senior employees.

Updating investors, the London-listed operator confirmed there would be no pay rise for Bengtsson in 2020 or to any member of the wider executive team.

The moves were made to secure 100% of wages for furloughed staff, particularly in a retail environment.

“From an employee perspective, the most marked impact has perhaps been on those employees working in our retail business where we have had to close our stores,” said the operator.

“We understand the income that these roles provide to many employees and their families is important and so we have decided to top up the wages of furloughed colleagues to 100% of normal salary levels for the time being.”

William Hill confirmed that no other share awards will be made to senior executives at Hills, including incoming CFO Matt Ashley.

“As a board, we are focused on taking appropriate steps during the current emergency that will look to protect the interests of all of our key stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders) to best ensure the strength of our business in the long term,” the bookmaker said.

Hills confirmed that Ashley has not received additional financial incentives for joining the business, and any like-for-like incentives paid in matching his previous salary package will be reinvested into William Hill shares.