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Directors' remuneration report

(a) Salary and benefits

The Group Chief Executive, the highest paid director, and the Chief Executive of the US division are US citizens residing in the US. Their remuneration packages are based on the execution of the Group's remuneration principles in the context of the US market and are set and paid in US dollars. Similarly the remuneration packages of the Group Finance Director and the Chief Executive of the UK division are based on the execution of the Group's remuneration principles in the context of the UK market and are set and paid in pounds sterling as they reside in the UK.

Details of the salaries received by executive directors are shown above.

The Remuneration Committee normally reviews the salary and benefits of executive directors annually. Although the Remuneration Committee's normal review of percentile positioning would have resulted in much larger salary increases for all of the executive directors, the Remuneration Committee has agreed to their request that their base salary increases be capped this year. This reflects the difficult economic and trading conditions in both the US and UK, and the resulting management decision to impose a salary cap on the organisation in order to better control costs. The Remuneration Committee respects this decision. However, as a result, the percentile positioning of all the executive directors will inevitably decline. This is of concern as the Group continued to achieve a superior operating performance for the jewellery sector. The Remuneration Committee will attempt to re-establish the appropriate percentile positioning for the executive directors as economic and trading conditions permit.

Following the 2008 annual reviews the Remuneration Committee increased the base salaries of the executive directors as follows: the Group Chief Executive from $1,575,000 to $1,622,250, the Group Finance Director from £425,000 to £437,750, the Chief Executive of the UK division from £330,000 to £349,800, the Chief Executive of the US division from $800,000 to $822,000. The Chairman of the Board receives a fee of £215,000 per annum which was increased from £200,000 upon the anniversary of his appointment as Chairman, in June 2007.