A$2.25m for new retail company chief

Wesfarmers, Australia's biggest home-improvement retailer, will pay new chief executive Richard Goyder A$2.25 million ($2.48 million) a year.

Goyder, 45, takes charge of the Perth-based company today, replacing Michael Chaney who left yesterday to become chairman of National Australia Bank after 13 years as chief executive.

Goyder, who was promoted from chief financial officer, is eligible for a bonus of "similar magnitude" to his annual salary, Wesfarmers said.

Goyder becomes Wesfarmers' seventh chief executive since the company was founded in 1914 as a farmer's co-operative providing services and merchandise to rural Western Australia.