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54 Remuneration report
Unilever Annual Report & Accounts and Form 20-F 2002
Directors’ service contracts
NV’s and PLC’s Articles of Association require that all directors retire from office at every Annual General Meeting. Directors’
contracts of service with the Unilever Group are generally terminated no later than the end of the month in which the
Annual General Meeting closest to their 62nd birthday is held. See table below:
Effective date Expiry/
Date of of current retirement Notice period Notice period
appointment contract date* for company for director
ABurgmans 8 May 1991 5 May 1993 31 May 2009 12 months 6 months
NWAFitzGerald 20 May 1987 5 May 1993 31 May 2007 12 months 6 months
ACButler 6 May 1992 5 May 1993 31 May 2008 12 months 6 months
PJCescau 4 May 1999 4 May 1999 31 May 2010 12 months 6 months
KBDadiseth 3 May 2000 3 May 2000 31 May 2007 12 months 6 months
ARvan Heemstra 3 May 2000 3 May 2000 31 May 2008 12 months 6 months
RHPMarkham 6 May 1998 6 May 1998 31 May 2008 12 months 6 months
CBStrauss 3 May 2000 3 May 2000 31 May 2005 12 months 6 months
*Assumes that the Annual General Meeting is held in May, as is the current practice.
The directors are long serving Unilever executives who can reasonably expect, subject to satisfactory performance, to be
employed by Unilever until retirement. The Committee takes the view that the entitlement by the directors to the security
of twelve months’ notice of termination of employment is in line both with the practice of many comparable companies
and the entitlement of other senior executives within Unilever.
The directors have service contracts with both NV and PLC. The service contracts provide for 12 months’ notice of
termination on the part of each company. NV and PLC may, if they choose, pay to the director a sum equal to 12 months’
salary in lieu of notice.
The Remuneration Committee’s aim is always to deal fairly with cases of termination whilst taking a robust line in minimising
any compensation. The Remuneration Committee has given due consideration to the recommendations contained in the
Combined Code regarding inclusion of explicit provisions in directors’ service contracts for compensation commitments in the
event of early termination. The Committee will continue to keep under review its current practice, which is not to include
such provisions in order to enable it to respond appropriately to particular circumstances.
In both 2002 and 2001, all eight directors served for the whole of the year. In 2001, two other directors served for only part
of the year.