Punch Taverns boss Giles Thorley is one of the country’s best paid chief executives earning more than £10m a year, according to a new report by Incomes Data Services.

The Punch boss, who recently became non-executive chairman at restaurant group Tragus, came fifth in a poll of the country’s highest paid bosses.

Thorley, who joined Punch in December 2001, currently takes home an annual salary of almost £10.8m in combined pay, bonuses, share options and other incentives.

A report today in The Times newspaper claimed the gap between FTSE100 chief executives and their average full-time members of staff had widened this decade to the point where the heads of Britain’s biggest companies now earn 98 times as much on average as their employees.

By Chris Druce

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