WORKERS at York's Nestl Rowntree factory expressed shock today after discovering they would not receive a cash bonus.

Staff at the Wigginton Road plant - who have previously received up to £600 through the factory's performance-related scheme - claimed that targets which they needed to achieve to trigger the bonus were "unrealistic".

The shock news comes only days after the company's chief executive, Alastair Sykes, told the Evening Press that the company's 2004 quarterly market share had improved from 16.3 per cent to 17.5 per cent and KitKat had generated £260 million of sales and six per cent growth.

A Nestl worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said morale among staff at the factory was at "rock bottom".

"It's the first time ever they've not paid out," he said.

"Nobody can understand it after what was said in the Press about the amount of money they had made. Everyone is fuming."

A company intranet bulletin to workers from Mr Sykes, leaked to the Evening Press, said: "Under the 2004 scheme, eligible employees who were employed by the company throughout 2004 could qualify for a bonus of two per cent of eligible earnings if the company achieved its profit target for 2004.

"I am disappointed to confirm that NUKL(NestlUK Ltd) missed its profit target in 2004. As a result no bonus under the terms of the company Performance Bonus Scheme is payable."

Another York worker, who has been at the Nestl factory for 33 years, said: "They have set unrealistic targets that we can't possibly achieve. It was only to be expected."

A Nestl spokeswoman said the York factory workers were eligible for a performance-related bonus payment, which was dependent on the factory achieving a number of operational targets.

The bonus was not a guaranteed part of employees remuneration package, she said, but when operational targets were not achieved, as sometimes happened, the performance-related bonus was not paid.

"While we can talk about Nestl Rowntree's overall performance, internal staff remuneration is confidential," the spokeswoman added.

A spokesman for the General Municipal Boilermakers Union, which represents many of the staff at the factory, said they were aware of the development, but said: "The company has not made any announcement to the union so we can't comment further."

Nestl UK bulletin

"Under the 2004 scheme, eligible employees who were employed by the company throughout 2004 could qualify for a bonus of two per cent of eligible earnings if the company achieved its profit target for 2004. I am disappointed to confirm that NUKL missed its profit target in 2004. As a result no bonus under the terms of the Company Performance Bonus Scheme is payable"

Alastair Sykes, chairman and CEO

Updated: 09:13 Saturday, March 12, 2005