THE former chief executive of Rank Group, the gaming company, received a payout of more than £700,000 after retiring from the board last year, writes Matthew Goodman.

Mike Smith, who stood down from the owner of Mecca bingo and Grosvenor casinos in March 2006, collected £705,173, the company’s annual report shows.

The report states that the figure included his salary to the end of Rank’s financial year in December as well as compensation for the loss of future employment benefits. Together with his pension payments, Smith received a total of £1.13m last year.

Smith would have been due to retire three months ago but decided to step down early. He had been in charge of Rank for seven years and was succeeded by Ian Burke, who joined from Holmes Place, the gym chain.

The report shows Burke received £850,000 last year, including a £255,000 annual bonus. His basic salary was £348,000, although this was for just 10 months of the financial year because he took over in March. This year his salary will be £525,000.

The group has set up a new bonus scheme for the board of the gaming division, which includes Burke and Peter Gill, the finance director.

The scheme has been created following a change in the management of the division, the largest part of Rank, last year. Burke and Gill will be entitled to shares that will vest in December equivalent to 20% of their basic salary, dependent on meeting operating profit targets. Other board members will get bonuses worth between 20% and 30% of salary.

The company faces a number of difficult issues. Most pressing is the introduction of a smoking ban in England, which is expected to hurt its bingo business. In Scotland, where a ban came into force last year, bingo clubs have seen a sharp fall in takings.

Rank shares closed on Thursday at 206Çp, giving the company a market value of £807m . This is some way short of the 12-month high of 268p.

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