City fund manager and fly-fishing fanatic awards himself £11m catch

A City fund manager has awarded himself a £11.4m remuneration package, the equivalent to the yearly salaries of 1,130 workers on the minimum wage.

A former captain of the England fly-fishing team, Jeremy Herrmann, 35, named his hedge fund after a cannibalistic trout. Ferox Capital Management's latest accounts report a gross profit of £32,627,712 but administrative expenses, including salaries, benefits and employee plans, totalled £32,567,096.

Mr Herrmann, with a 75 per cent holding in the company, allocated £11.4m for his annual package as director of the company. The remaining £21.1m was split between the other directors and staff. The directors Rupert Mathews and Alexander Warren both hold 12.5 per cent in Ferox, which employs 32 people including 18 investment professionals and administration staff.

None of the directors took a dividend from the £60,616 operating profit which remained after administrative expenses were deducted. The company, registered at St James's Street in central London, was founded by the directors in December 2003. City insiders said that Mr Herrmann spent all of his spare time fishing or enjoying himself on yachting holidays.

Mr Herrmann's fortune has allowed him to fish in some of the world's most desirable spots and he also owns a £5m grouse moor. He bought the Durham Moor, called Mugleswick, which Madonna was also interested in buying for her husband Guy Ritchie.

The fund manager, who has an office in Mayfair, owns a house in Chester Square, where Baroness Thatcher lives.

He was noted by his fellow fly fisherman Guy Turck as "one of the most aggressive fly fisherman you'll ever see". The American added: "Jeremy also has the uncanny ability to think like a fish better than anyone I've ever known."

Mr Herrmann declined to talk about his bumper pay package.