Kohl’s Cuts Executives’ Pay

The board of directors at Kohl’s Corp. (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) has reduced the compensation for the retailer’s top management while performance continues to sag.

“Because the company failed to achieve acceptable financial results in 2012, our principal officers did not achieve a ‘satisfactory’ rating for the year and therefore did not receive any stock options, restricted shares or any other form of equity awards in 2013 based on 2012 performance,” said the Kohl’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kohl’s principal officers include chairman, president and ceo Kevin Mansell; chief merchandising officer Donald Brennan; and chief administrative officer John Worthington.

The recommendation had been made by the board’s compensation committee, which gave each executive a performance rating of “inconsistent” for the year.

As reported in Women’s Wear Daily, Mansell’s compensation – including $1.3 million in salary and $531,720 in incentives – fell 17 percent. He also received stock and options awards from prior years valued at about $5.6 million, although stock price fluctuations may reduce that.

Both Brennan and Worthington saw their total compensation fall by just over 71 percent.

“From a financial results perspective, fiscal 2012 was a disappointing year for our company,” Kohl’s said in the proxy. “While sales grew for the year in total…there were a number of categories within which we did not grow at the rate we had planned. Just as importantly, our growth came at a higher cost to profitability than is acceptable to us.”

Kohl’s net profits fell 15.5 percent to $986 million last year as sales inched up 2.5 percent to $19.28 billion.