Board pay outpaced the wage bill while New Balance crossed £1bn

The latest 371-day period sits against a one-day stub for the prior year, rendering unadjusted year-on-year comparisons statistically unrepresentative. As the consolidating parent for the smaller group, it reports a substantial top line but records the mechanics of the wage bill and headcount within the subsidiaries.

Turnover ticked up modestly, but operating profit contracted as the wage bill expanded despite a slight reduction of the workforce. The accounts note that the grocer has no direct employees of its own, relying entirely on recharged staff from the parent company. Average pay per head for those recharged workers still rose materially, squeezing the margins.

Top-line expansion translated cleanly into a much sharper jump in operating profit for the consolidated group. The period also saw an increase in board pay, with director remuneration expanding to account for the vast majority of the parent's reported staff cost line. Ernst & Young signed off with three key audit matters attached.

The UK arm passed the billion-pound revenue mark with a steady double-digit expansion. Gross margins widened notably, allowing operating profit to outpace sales growth despite a material increase in average pay per head. A very tidy set of numbers.

Top-line growth flowed cleanly down the P&L, with operating profit expanding at nearly twice the pace of sales. The highest-paid director saw a material increase in remuneration that outpaced the broader increase in the overall wage bill. Notably for a business of this scale, the accounts have been filed unaudited.