FrieslandCampina gives top woman bonus

FrieslandCampina gives the retiring financial top woman Jaska de Bakker a severance payment of €1,1 million. This is reported by De Volkskrant after a further study of the dairy group's annual report for 2020.

In an article titled "FrieslandCampina frugal for farmers, generous for departing top woman' the newspaper calculated that De Bakker, who will leave the dairy group in a few months, will receive a severance payment that is significantly higher than her annual salary. This means that it does not comply with the Corporate Governance Code, which lays down the ethical requirements that large companies can comply with.  

The newspaper notes that the amount that De Bakker receives 'is on the high side' from the item 'special wage tax'. In order to pay out the €1,1 million to De Bakker, €700.000 must also go to the tax authorities. The departure premium comes at an extremely sensitive time for FrieslandCampina, because for the first time in its history, the dairy company had to announce on Tuesday that it would not be able to make supplementary payments on the milk price for the 2020 result. disappointing annual results do not allow this according to the company.

Turmoil among dairy farmers
As a result, an average member dairy farm runs between miss the €10.000 and €20.000 in additional income, cooperative chairman Frans Keurentjes calculated. The poor financial performance on Tuesday led to a lot of commotion among dairy farmers, with an announced action by Farmers Defense Force at the head office of FrieslandCampina in Amersfoort ultimately did not take place. However, the top of the dairy group has already been accused of 'packing bags' by the farmers' movement.

FrieslandCampina has canceled the long-term bonuses for the top 100 management, De Volkskrant reports. Just like the members, the two-man management, in addition to De Bakker consisting of CEO Hein Schumacher, received no extra rewards. They earned €2020 million together in 1,4..

FrieslandCampina informed de Volkskrant that it would not provide any further explanation about the remuneration, except that it would concern agreements made in advance with De Bakker. Member dairy farmers can express themselves at digital members' meetings about the annual figures, the milk price and also the remuneration of the directors. The members' council must ultimately approve everything at the end of this month.

© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.