Ken Murphy, the boss of Tesco, took a more-than £1m pay rise this year, bringing his total pay packet to £10.8m in the year the grocer solidified its dominant position in the market. The chief executive of the supermarket giant’s total pay packet for the 2025/26 year included £1.5m in
Felix Armstrong
Friday 15 May 2026 3:12 pm
Ken Murphy, the boss of Tesco, took a more-than £1m pay rise this year, bringing his total pay packet to £10.8m in the year the grocer solidified its dominant position in the market.
The chief executive of the supermarket giant’s total pay packet for the 2025/26 year included £1.5m in basic pay, a £3.4m bonus and a £5.7m long-term bonus which included shares in the company.
The FTSE 100 grocer outperformed market expectations last month when it declared a bumper nine per cent profit jump to £2.4m before tax.
Tesco has fought to retain its crown as the UK’s biggest supermarket in recent years, after suffering a huge slump around the turn of the century in which the grocer expanded into overseas markets and banking services.
Murphy’s pay packet for this year compared to a £9.8m total package last year, marking a ten per cent jump.
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The chief executive’s basic salary will jump by another three per cent to £1.54m later this month, on 24 May, trumped by chief financial officer Imran Nawaz’s eight per cent hike to £900k.
Murphy replaced ‘drastic’ Dave Lewis as chief executive of the grocer in October 2020, and has hotted up competition with German discounters Aldi and Lidl through its price-match schemes.
Read more Tesco shares jump as profit surges despite Iran ‘uncertainty’
Tesco said in April it has tripled the number of products on its “everyday low prices” line in 3,000 over the last year, and now offers more than 600 products price matched to Aldi.
The supermarket chief has also expanded tech investment, more than doubling the headcount of its technology department and expanding the Tesco app, including through the launch of last-minute delivery service Whoosh.
Murphy met ‘challenging targets’
When announcing Tesco’s results in April, Murphy sought to downplay the prospect of price inflation caused by the Iran war.
He said he did “not recognise” a nine-to-10 per cent food inflation forecast provided by the Food and Drink Federation, a leading trade body for manufacturers.
Melissa Bethell, chairwoman of the Tesco board remuneration committee, said in the report: “The remuneration for our executive directors is closely tied to the strong performance of the business.
“Our policy is comparable to other FTSE 50 companies and reflects the complexities of managing a large-scale operation.
“A significant portion of the total package has been achieved due to Ken Murphy and Imran Nawaz meeting or exceeding challenging targets in a competitive sector, creating value for all stakeholders.”
Read more Sainsbury’s warns of Iran war hit to customers, share price dips
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