Tony Froggatt

Froggatt Happy with his £1.7 million from S&N in 2006

Tony Froggatt was appointed Chief Executive of Scottish & Newcastle in May 2003 ^[1] and remained in the post until Noverber 2007 when John Dunsmore took over. Tony started his career with the Gillette Company, and has held a wide range of sales, marketing and management positions in many countries, with major companies including Heinz and IDV. His last appointment before joining S&N, was as President – Europe, Middle East and Africa for Seagram Spirits & Wine Group. He is also a non-executive director of Brambles plc.

Tony is a collector of historical autographs and proudly boasts about his collection, which includes Jimi Hendrix, Lord Nelson, Napolean and a signed photograph of Winston Churchill. ^[2]

This article is part of the Spinwatch public health oriented Alcohol Portal project.

A recent conference in Toyko was hosted by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, the Times, and the Japanese paper Yomiuri Shimbun, with the theme of Japan's political and economic renaissance. Froggatt joined the News International chairman, Les Hinton, and the BSkyB chief executive, James Murdoch at the conference; where the highlight was Tony Blair's talk to delegates via satellite, he also took questions. Also present were the Times Newspapers managing director, Paul Hayes, and his director of trading, Dominic Carter, Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of advertising group WPP was there, alongside a number of British executives, including Alan Parker, the chairman of City PR firm Brunswick. ^[3]

Froggatt is S&N's top earner pocketing £1.7 million from the company in 2006. His basic salary is £775,000 and just to make sure Froggatt stays motivated his performance related bonus for 2006 earned him £575,000. Lets face it for a man of Froggatt's talents this isn't enough he also recieved cash benefits of £310,000 and "benefits in kind" worth £8637 which includes his beer, wines and spirits bonus. The year before Froggatt only earned a total of £1.4.

This obscene package is taken by Froggatt at a time when S&N is in the process of cutting costs of £50 million over the next three years, job cuts are more than likely. It is likely that Froggatt's bar bill ammounts to more than the salaries of some members of staff, although Frogatt's "benefits in kind" appear insignificant when compared to the ammount paid to Sir Brian Stewart's. In 2006 Stewart recieved £28,868 worth of "benefits in kind" again including "wine, beers &spirits". This ammounts to more than the national average wage. Lets hope Stewart doesn't consume almost £30 thousand pounds worth of alcohol annually, as he would surely be in danger of exceeding the reccommended alcohol intake. ^[4]

Notes

1. ^Scottish & Newcastle Company Web Site Jan 2007 [5]
2. ^Queen Mary University of London Interview with Tony Froggat
3. ^ Stephen Brook "Blair makes time for Murdoch" The Guardian October 31st 2006
4. ^Mark SmithBoardroom pay at S&N soars 22% as Froggatt nets £1.7m The Herald 22nd March 2007