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Jeff Fairburn attempts to rebuild his career after £75m Persimmon pay furore
Former boss of the FTSE 100 housebuilder is teaming up with a US hedge fund to take over Avant Homes
24 April 2021 • 5:00pm
Jeff Fairburn has been lying low since he was forced out of FTSE 100 housebuilder Persimmon two-and-a-half years ago amid public outcry over his bonus.
He could certainly afford a career break. The controversial chief executive walked away with a £75m pay award that he insisted on taking in full, despite pressure from his company to accept a cut.
The pay packet far exceeded the average remuneration for blue-chip bosses, estimated at around £3.5m at the time, drawing ire from investors and politicians. Then housing minister Dominic Raab described the bonus as “unfathomable”.
By Joey Gardiner2021-03-03T10:13:00+00:00
Listed housebuilder says weekly site sales up 7% so far in 2021
Top three UK housebuilder Persimmon saw profit fall by just a quarter in 2020 despite the impact of the covid crisis, endorsing its decision not to furlough staff during the spring lockdown.
Persimmon today reported pre-tax profit of £784m for the calendar year 2020, 25% down on 2019, on revenue of £3.3bn, a drop of just 9%.
Persimmon was the only top five housebuilder to not use the furlough scheme
These figures compare to rival Taylor Wimpey, which yesterday reported final results showing profit down by two-thirds as turnover slumped by 40%.