Unipart executives have received bonuses despite the company losing £111m and cutting 300 jobs at its Cowley plant.

The chief executive, John Neill, saw his pay rise to £668,000 for the year 2000, up from £664,000 the previous year. At his request he was not given a salary increase over and above his bonus.

The non-executive chairman, Lord Sheppard of Didgemere, chairs the executive remuneration committee. His pay rose by £2,000 to £45,000.

The company is in difficulty after buying a competitor and losing its contract to supply parts to Rover and Land Rover.

Unipart spokesman Frank Nigriello said Mr Neill's pay was due to earlier bonuses.

"The additional £4,000 results from performance bonuses earned in earlier years, part of which are held and deferred into later years," he said.

"Many companies regard it as good practice to defer bonuses into future years. They can only be realised if the executive stays with the company and are used as a retention incentive."

Mr Neill also owns eight per cent of Unipart's shares.

Outlining Lord Sheppard's duties, Mr Nigriello said: "These include chairing board meetings, chairing the executive remuneration committee, counsel and advice to the chief executive, assistance in pursuit of major pieces of new business, and maintaining relationships with investors, Government and MPs."

August 1999, Lord Sheppard's pay rose to £45,000 for the following three years.

A £111m loss reported this year was blamed on the £179m purchase two years ago of a rival company Partco, which has led to an acrimonious law suit between Unipart and two former Partco directors.

The directors are suing Unipart for wrongful dismissal. Unipart, in turn, is suing the former directors for allegedly inadequate and incorrect financial disclosures concerning Partco before the deal.

Unipart's share price has tumbled to just 42p, compared with 108p last year. About 2,000 of Unipart's 10,000 employees hold shares in the company and, between them, they own about 50 per cent of the business.

The shares are not quoted on the London Stock Exchange. Instead their price is announced each year by accountants and disclosed to shareholders.

Mr Neill is a pioneer of the stakeholder philosophy of company management, which advocates the idea that workers, suppliers, shareholders, customers, and the community at large should share an active interest in the company's management.

During his review of 2000, he said he anticipated that the loss of the Rover and Land Rover contracts would lead potentially to 1,500 redundancies.