The popular British stock picker Terry Smith pocketed nearly £30m last year, making him one of the best-paid executives in the fund management industry.
Accounts filed at Companies House show the Fundsmith executive – who owns more than 50% of the fund management company – took home £29.7m in the 12 months to March 2020, nearly double the £16.2m he earned a year earlier.
It followed a bumper year for the firm. Overall, pre-tax profits in the year to March 2020 grew nearly 84%, rising from £26.4m to £48.5m, helping fuel the pay increase for its founder.
Fundsmith, which runs the UK’s largest equity fund, also saw its assets under management (AUM) grow from £21bn to £23.3bn in the 12 months leading up to the UK’s first Covid lockdown, thanks to strong stock performance and an increase in the amount of money put into the fund by investors. Further inflows and climbing stock prices have since pushed AUM to £33.2bn.
The £29.7m payout is the largest on record for the 67-year-old Smith, who has been hailed as the UK’s answer to the American stock market hero Warren Buffet. He has lived in Mauritius with his family since 2014.
Smith’s bumper pay make him one of the best-paid executives in the industry.
Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk
Larry Fink, the chief executive of the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, was paid $29.9m (£21.8m) in 2020, following an 18% pay rise of his own.
Fundsmith’s 23 staff shared profits of £11.5m in the 12 months to March 2020, compared with £8.8m a year earlier. The company has nearly doubled its workforce and had 45 employees as of December.
Smith, who is originally from east London, founded Fundsmith in 2010 and has gone on to run the UK’s largest equity fund, Fundsmith Equity. The fund manager has historically invested in large household names and tech stars – from Domino’s Pizza to Microsoft and Facebook – helping drive strong returns.
