Morrisons boss waives bonus after profit warning

(Reuters) - The chief executive of Wm Morrison Supermarkets is to waive his annual bonus after Britain's No. 4 grocer posted a 13 percent slump in 2013-2014 profit and issued a huge profit warning for the current year.

Dalton Philips was offered a 374,000 pound ($621,300) cash and share bonus by Morrisons' remuneration committee but declined, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The sum declined represented a bonus equivalent to 22 percent of his basic pay. He can potentially earn a bonus of 200 percent of salary.

Although Philips failed to meet bonus criteria related to profit, he did meet strategic criteria, such as launching an online service through a deal with Ocado and opening more convenience stores.

Morrisons declined to comment.

Earlier this month the Bradford, northern England, based firm said profit before tax and one-off items dropped to 785 million pounds in the year to February 2 and warned that underlying profit in the 2014-15 year would be in the range of 325-375 million pounds.

The firm also sparked talk of an industry price war by saying it would invest 1 billion pounds in price cuts over three years in a bid to recover.

($1 = 0.6019 British Pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Angus MacSwan)