Store managers at Tesco will pocket less than a fifth of their potential bonuses in response to the supermarket giant’s lacklustre recent performance.

Staff last week received a letter from chief executive Philip Clarke explaining why Tesco was giving them a far smaller bonus than last year.

They will receive an average of between £2,000 and £3,000 apiece, according to the Daily Mail, down more than 80% from last year’s £12,000 average.

“Last year was a difficult one despite delivering another record set of results,” Clarke wrote.

“The group missed its profit targets and had a mixed performance across our six corporate objectives [including] our UK like-for-like sales target. Following a review of our performance, the executive committee has approved an award of 16.9% of your maximum bonus.”

A spokesman for Tesco told the Mail “those at the top of the company will take their share of the impact of last year’s results”.