EMI chief will earn up to 7m pounds this year

JIM FIFIELD, the chief executive of EMI Music who was paid pounds 13.5m last year, stands to earn as much as pounds 7.16m (dollars 10.95m) this year. He will also receive 100,000 share options shortly after the annual shareholders' meeting on 15 July.

Mr Fifield, whose package makes him the second-highest- paid director of a British company after Peter Wood of Direct Line insurance, is one of a senior group of executives at Thorn EMI's music division who are eligible for generous performance-related bonuses.

A spokesman for Thorn refused to confirm that other music managers had received multi-million-pound pay packages. But he said Mr Fifield's options package was modest compared with some of the 'mega-grants' made to many top US executives.

Mr Fifield's basic pay this year is dollars 3m. But he can double this if he hits certain profit targets. If he hits other targets in a three-year incentive plan he can make a further dollars 4.95m.

The 100,000 share options are the second of three annual tranches and give him the right to buy Thorn shares at a set price. The options are granted at the market price, so for every pounds 1 rise in Thorn's shares he makes pounds 100,000.

Next year Mr Fifield stands to make up to dollars 6m in cash. His long-term incentive plan grants him up to 169,800 shares. Thorn's shares stand at pounds 10.14.

Thorn's spokesman said it was company policy to make a large proportion of managers' pay performance-related. He added that Mr Fifield's pay was in line with that of other top music industry executives.

Mr Fifield has presided over a period of exceptional growth since he joined EMI Music in May 1988. Its profits have grown from pounds 44.6m in 1989 to pounds 246m in 1994, boosted by a string of recording successes and rights to most of the Beatles' hits. Sales have grown from pounds 633.4m to pounds 1.76bn during the period.

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