Pay jumps 55% for P&O boss as ferry company posts loss of £91 million
The much-delayed annual accounts have been filed to Companies House and will soon be published, but have been seen by ITV News and the Guardian.
The accounts show that P&O lost £91.4 million before tax during 2023, down from £246 million the year before.
Peter Hebblethwaite, the chief executive, was paid £683,000 - representing an increase of at least 55% on the earnings of P&O's highest-paid director in 2022.
The rise in Hebblethwaite's pay is likely to fuel renewed anger, coming just a year after P&O sacked 786 crew without notice and replaced them with cheaper agency workers paid as little as £4.87 an hour.
The financial accounts of P&O Ferries Division Holdings Limited show Hebblethwaite's earnings were higher than the amounts he disclosed to MPs last May.
Hebblethwaite told the Business and Trade parliamentary select committee that he earned a £325,000 salary, plus a bonus of £183,000 for 2023.
During his appearance, MPs asked if he was 'a pirate' who appeared to be 'robbing staff blind'.
Hebblethwaite told MPs: 'I reflected on accepting that [bonus]. But ultimately I did decide to accept it.'
He added: 'I do recognise it is not a decision that everyone would have made."
P&O Ferries sacked its mainly British crews in March 2022 in order to cut its costs and avoid bankruptcy, but the company still lost money in 2023.
In a note, accompanying the accounts, P&O's directors say the company 'has been on a transformational journey, as it has progressed its recovery from the challenges of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit and the impact of the disruption caused by the change in the crewing model.'
The company carried 4.5 million passengers in 2023, an increase on the year before when its service was disrupted by the sackings and the subsequent detention of some of its ships by the authorities.
In 2019, P&O carried 7.7 million passengers.
Freight volumes also remain well below pre-pandemic levels. The accounts state that P&O 'is not seeing the [freight] market growth it had previously predicted' and says 'recessionary pressures' are in part to blame.
In adversity, P&O Ferries continues to rely on its owner, DP World, to stay in business.
DP World - a company from Dubai that runs ports and shipping terminals around the world - has provided a letter of support, indicating a willingness to continue to fund P&O's losses.
P&O is not currently repaying interest on a £295 million loan from DP World - instead the debt is accumulating. And there has been a sharp increase of lease liabilities to £241 million in 2023, compared with £14.5 million the previous year.
P&O's accounts are nine months late, prompting MPs to question the company's viability, and are signed off by Just Audit & Assurance - a tiny four-person audit-firm that replaced KPMG, the accounting giant that resigned in March.
The accounts were already overdue when Just Audit & Assurance were appointed.
'These delayed accounts are still incomplete. They also suggest P&O Ferries is in deep financial trouble,' said Professor Atul Shah of City University.
He added: 'As a Limited Liability company which is of significant public interest to Britain, P&O Ferries can only continue trading because DP World is willing to underwrite its still considerable losses. That is a highly precarious situation to be in for most stakeholders.'
Despite ongoing losses, P&O maintains that it is on a path to recovery, but its wage bill will have risen significantly in 2024.
A change in the law in France and the UK now compels all ferry operators to pay the minimum wage to crews on the cross-channel routes.
In its accounts, P&O says, 'We are unequivocally committed to adhering to the legal requirements of applicable national and international laws.'
A spokesperson for P&O Ferries said: 'These results show the progress we're making in transforming the business. Losses are down and financial performance is improving.
"Our focus on high-quality experience is driving growth across both tourism and freight, with more people choosing to travel with us and satisfaction scores rising. We're matching capacity to meet demand, and continue to invest in greener, more efficient vessels.
'Our accounts are prepared in accordance with relevant accounting standards and subject to independent audit in line with auditing standards.'
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