THE BOSS of cigarette giant British American Tobacco can look forward to comfortable twilight years after new figures revealed he has one of the top ten biggest pensions in the UK.

High-flying chairman Martin Broughton, who wings his way over to British Airways at the end of the month, has a pension pot containing £10.75m.

He stands at number eight with nearly £2m more than last year.

Not bad for a decade's service, especially considering the 56-year-old is also the second highest paid chairman in the country.

At £2.4m for the year, he lags behind only all-conquering Tesco boss David Reid, who pockets £2.72m.

But the wealth is not just concentrated at the very top. Paul Rayner is ranked sixth best paid financial direector in the land with earnings of £1.25m.

BAT spokesman Ann Tradigo said the pair are worth it.

"The figures are totally commensurate with the success of the company," she said.

The sums dwarf the average annual wage for Southampton workers of £25,300, the sort of money earned by many of the 1,500 people employed by BAT at its city plant.

Yet, even Mr Broughton's sky-high wage packet is put in the shade by Alan Spence, director of travel group Britannic and the highest earner in the region. He pocketed £4.6m last year.

The average pay of an FTSE director has jumped 7.5 per cent to £725,000 - far more than the average wage, which has risen by just 4.3 per cent.

All of the seed-to-smoke company's manufacturing in the UK is being concentrated at its

26-acre plant in Millbrook, Southampton, where strong tar brands like Dunhill, State Express 555 and Rothmans International are made for export outside the European Union.

When Mr Broughton succeeds BA chairman Lord Marshall, non-executive director Jan du Plessis will himself replace him on July 1.