Rona pays former CEO Robert Dutton $4.5M severance package

Former Rona president and CEO Robert Dutton is seen at the company's annual meeting on May 10, 2011, in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

MONTREAL -- Hardware and lumber retailer Rona Inc. says it paid former CEO Robert Dutton a severance package worth more than $4.5 million as part of nearly $6.9 million in total compensation last year.

The Quebec-based company said Dutton's severance package included $1.8 million in cash representing two years of base salary and the vesting of more than 224,000 options granted since 2009, it said in a regulatory filing ahead of its annual meeting in May.

Rona (TSX:RON) disclosed that it also paid Dutton as a consultant during a three-month transition period after he resigned last November and paid him $75,000 a month.

The 35-year Rona employee also earned $793,141 in base salary in 2012, $845,138 in share-base awards, $281,513 in options and a pension value of $304,000.

Dutton earned $2 million in 2011, including $876,413 in base salary, $845,470 in share-based awards, $281,832 in option-based awards, $87,641 in bonuses and a negative $89,000 pension value due to a change in the way his pension was calculated.

He has been eligible since November to receive an annual pension of $508,000, excluding the value voluntary employee contributions made over his years with the company.

Dominque Boies, who filled the duel roles of chief financial officer and acting chief executive, took home total compensation of $1.9 million, up from $580,000 in 2011 when he was just chief financial officer. His base salary increased to $412,430 while he also received more shares and options and a $57,740 bonus.

Boies will remain chief financial officer following the selection of former Metro (TSX:MRU) vice-president Robert Sawyer as CEO.

Joining Sawyer on Rona's board will be 13 other members, including several people added in January. Steven Richardson and Eric Claus are proposed for election, while Jean-Roch Vachon and Geoff Molson won't seek re-appointment.

The new board will have one woman -- Suzanne Blanchet of Cascades (TSX:CAS) -- and six members from outside Rona's base in Quebec.