Victorian Plumbing billionaire in line for huge pay day after bonus boost

The billionaire founder and chief executive of Victorian Plumbing is in line for a huge pay day after his company decided to up his salary and potential bonus.

The London AIM-listed company’s remuneration committee has decided to increase Mark Radcliffe’s base salary from £250,000 to £400,000 from 1 April, 2025.

The committee has also increased the maximum award from the long term incentive plan (LTIP) from 150 per cent to 200 per cent of his base salary.

The change, which does not need formal sign off from shareholders, means the Leyland-headquartered business could hand Radcliffe £1.2m when the LTIP matures if all the targets are met.

However, the targets for the first LTIP since Victorian Plumbing’s float on AIM, which were due to be paid out for it most recent financial year, were not met so no bonus was awarded.

The annual report comes after Victorian Plumbing confirmed earlier this month that its pre-tax profit was cut from £15.6m to £9m in the 12 months to 30 September, 2024.

Its full-year results also showed that the group’s revenue increased from £285.1m to £295.7m.

However, excluding the impact of its acquisition of Victoria Plum, which it has since shut down, its revenue decreased by one per cent.

Shares in Victorian Plumbing are currently trading at just over 100p, up from the 92.8p they started 2025 at.

In the last 12 months they have been as high as 121.5p on 2 December, 2024, and as low as 74.8p on 26 April, 2024.

Victorian Plumbing ‘at a pivotal stage’

Writing in the annual report , remuneration committee chair Dianne Walker said: “The group is at a pivotal stage in the evolution of its growth strategy; this has prompted the committee to carry out a detailed review of the policy, resulting in a renewed approach to incentivisation of executive directors.

“A ‘hybrid’ long-term incentive structure has been designed to combine performance-based outcomes with an element of time-based remuneration.

“An increase in the maximum LTIP award is also proposed, from 150 per cent to 200 per cent of base salary (equal to the previous maximum opportunity under exceptional circumstances); this, coupled with the introduction of the time-based element, will serve as a valuable incentivisation and retention tool as the company navigates through a period of growth.

“As part of its review of the policy, the committee also assessed the base salary levels of the executive directors and will increase these to bring them more into line with market comparators.

“This assessment also takes into account Daniel Barton’s progression in role since his appointment as chief financial officer in April 2023, as well as the impact of salary levels on the value of incentives.

“The company is not required to seek formal shareholder approval of its remuneration policy under the AIM rules, however, in line with the approach taken for the 2021 remuneration policy and in the interests of good governance, we will be presenting our new policy to shareholders at the 2025 AGM for an advisory vote.”