Tesco's chief executive Philip Clarke turns down £372,000 bonus payment

Philip Clarke, the chief executive of Tesco, has decided not to take a bonus this year after the grocery giant's issued its first profit warning in 20 years at the start of the year.

The Tesco lifer would have been entitled to about £372,000 if he had decided to take the 13.5 per cent of the maximum bonus being given to other executives. As a result, Mr Clarke's total pay nearly halved to £1.16m for the year to February.

Tesco's underlying sales fell over Christmas and it vowed to invest about £1bn to turn around its domestic performance. While its UK staff will share a bonus pot of more than £110m, 5,000 managers will see their bonuses slashed to 16.9 per cent of the maximum payable.