Bovis Homes directors forfeit cash bonuses for shares

The move follows controversial payments at Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey, who handed their chief executives cash bonuses of £406,000 and £788,000 in 2009, respectively. The move sparked outcry among MPs last week, who questioned the payments in the light of both firms receiving millions in Kickstart subsidies.

Bovis Homes, which turned over £282m and sold 1,803 homes last year, said it would instead pay its bonuses in shares. Chief executive David Ritchie took home a total of £401,000 last year but received 95,057 shares under the plan. He will only be able to cash them in after May 2012 and the amount he receives will depend on the intervening share price performance.

Robin Hardy, an analyst at KBC Peel Hunt, said: “This is how it should be done. Bonuses are measured against proper long-term goals and not determined by new criteria every year.”

The company said: “The remuneration committee considered it inappropriate to continue the existing bonus scheme and cash bonuses in 2009 were forfeited by the executive directors and replaced by awards in a bonus replacement share plan.”