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The boss of Rolls-Royce is in line to become one of the best-paid chief executives in the UK’s blue-chip index with a remuneration package that could top £18mn this year after spearheading a stunning transformation of the British aerospace group.
Under the proposals, published in the company’s annual report on Thursday, Tufan Erginbilgiç’s overall package of salary, annual bonus and long-term incentive plan in 2026 could be as high as £18.5mn if he meets performance targets.
The package would make him one of the highest-paid chief executives in London’s FTSE 100 and put him almost on a par with AstraZeneca’s Sir Pascal Soriot, whose maximum pay is set at £18.9mn a year under the pharmaceutical group’s pay policy. Soriot was paid £17.7mn for 2025.
The move to increase Erginbilgiç’s maximum pay comes as several top London-listed groups increase their bosses’ remuneration after a campaign to persuade investors to back bigger packages.
Former GSK chief executive Dame Emma Walmsley received a nearly 50 per cent increase in total remuneration in 2025, her final year leading the British drugmaker. Walmsley was paid £15.68mn, up from £10.56mn for 2024. Pay for the bosses of Britain’s biggest banks has also soared to the highest level in more than a decade.
Erginbilgiç is already in line for a share-based reward that could top £100mn. The former oil executive received 8.3mn shares when he joined to compensate for lost earnings and bonuses from his previous employer, the private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners.
The shares, which vest in two tranches in 2027 and 2028, were granted in March 2023 at a price of 90.8p per share. Rolls-Royce shares were trading at £13.47 on Thursday, giving Erginbilgiç a paper gain of more than £100mn. The potential payout would rank among the largest for a UK-listed company.
Under the revamped remuneration policy, which will be voted on by shareholders at Rolls-Royce’s annual meeting next month, Erginbilgiç’s annual bonus entitlement will increase from 200 per cent of his base salary to 300 per cent. His long-term incentive awards will go from a maximum of 375 per cent of salary to 750 per cent.
The FT previously reported that his annual package could be just over £13mn following the proposed changes but Rolls-Royce on Thursday also said that Erginbilgiç’s base salary had increased by 15.6 per cent in September, taking it to £1.58mn and boosting the maximum overall package.
Erginbilgiç would still need to hit key targets under the three-year long-term incentive plan and retain any shares for two years before receiving the full amount in May 2031.
Rolls-Royce said the company was in a “completely different place to where we were three years ago when the current policy was designed”.
“Rolls-Royce’s share price has increased by approximately 1,300 per cent since January 2023, taking our market cap from £8bn to £108bn, ranked as the fifth largest listed company in the FTSE 100,” the company said, adding that this progress had been driven by the actions of Erginbilgiç and his leadership team.
Rolls-Royce said it started consulting with its top 24 shareholders, who collectively hold more than 50 per cent of the company’s share capital, last autumn. Lord Jitesh Gadhia, chair of the group’s remuneration committee, said in the annual report that there was “consistent and positive support from shareholders” for the proposed changes.
Additional reporting by Aanu Adeoye
