Smucker’s co-CEOs paid $3.9 million each in 2009

NEW YORK — The co-CEOs of J.M. Smucker Co. both received compensation of about $3.9 million in fiscal 2009, a 23 percent increase from the prior year.

Timothy P. Smucker, 65, chairman and co-chief executive, and Richard K. Smucker, 61, president, executive chairman and co-CEO, each received a base salary of $761,000 and a bonus of $15,220.

Each also received a performance-based bonus of about $1.4 million.

Timothy Smucker received other compensation of $93,421 and Richard Smucker received other compensation of $79,262. That includes perks such as personal use of corporate aircraft, reimbursement of club dues and expenses, annual physical exams, financial and tax planning assistance and occasional use of company-purchased season tickets to entertainment events. The company said it “strongly encourages” the Smuckers to use corporate aircraft for all air travel for security reasons.

Both Smuckers also received stock options valued at about $1.7 million on the date they were granted.

In the filing, the company said they considered the co-CEOs responsible for a variety of objectives, including delivering positive earnings results and implementing the companies strategic vision.

Smucker’s executive compensation committee decided the co-CEOs met those objectives and qualified for a salary increase.

The Associated Press formula for calculating executive compensation is designed to isolate the value the company’s board placed on the executive’s total package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonuses, performance-related compensation, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and options granted during the year.

The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive’s compensation in the previous fiscal year.

Smuckers has been spared some of the pain many companies have faced during the recession because consumers are eating more at home and because it has benefited from its acquisition of the Folgers coffee brand last year.

In June, the company reported full-year net income climbed to $266 million, or $3.12 per share, compared with $170.4 million, or $3 per share, in the previous year. Annual sales jumped 49 percent to $3.76 billion from $2.52 billion.

The company’s share price fell about 21 percent during the fiscal year ended April 30.