A top Midlands software boss has doubled his money, topping the £ 1 million mark.

Kevin Lomax, chairman of Misys, based at Salford Priors, near Evesham, saw his total pay for the financial year 2004/5 hit £1,004,984. That was against £435,523 in 2003/4.

The package was made up of a base salary of £436,000, a £542,000 bonus, benefits in kind of £5,384 and a car allowance of £21,600.

In addition he received £ 174 , 400 in pension contributions.

Further he was one of five executive directors who shared an aggregate gain on share options exercised of £191,773.

Finance director Howard Evans also saw his total emoluments double - from £329,505 to £735,319. In addition he got a £128,000 pension contribution.

Other executive directors Ivan Martin, chief executive of Misys Banking Systems, Jasper McMahon, corporate development director, and Tom Skelton, chief executive of Misys Healthcare Systems, respectively got £615,685, £659,698 and £575,963.

Mr Lomax's base salary has risen to £466,000 for the current year.

In July Misys said profits before tax, goodwill and exceptionals fell to £91 million from £94 million last time. Turnover fell slightly to £888 million from £900 million.

However a spokeswoman for the company said this had hidden an improvement in operating profits while earnings per share had risen from 14.8p to 15.6p.

She said Mr Lomax did not get a bonus in 2003/4 because targets had not been met whereas he did in 2004/5 when he had achieved roughly 80 per cent of the mark.

The company also pointed out that half of the bonus is payable in cash and half is deferred for two years to be satisfied in shares.

The spokeswoman said bonuses were based on the performance of the business which had "improved considerably" in 2004/5.

Directors were paid at the median for the market place in comparison with their peers and she pointed out that Misys operated in "very competitive" international markets.

In his annual report statement Mr Lomax predicted big change for the industry.

He stated: "There is huge scope to make things 'work better'.

"The software industry is ripe for a quality revolution to rival that in automotive manufacturing which 25 years ago set new standards of specification, economy and reliability as companies totally reengineered processes.

"Those that seek the software equivalent of virtually defect-free production will lead the industry."

Quality, he said, had to be the first priority.

On general economic progress, Mr Lomax said the company's performance was "encouraging".

He went on: "We recognise that sustained successful execution remains essential and there is still room for improvement, but our progress over the last 12 months gives us confidence for the future."

Meanwhile Kim Ward, chief executive of Brierley Hill based aerospace and automotive engineering group Hampson Industries, saw his total remuneration rise from £281,330 to £347,135 inclusive of bonus and pension contributions, while chairman Tony Gilroy got £80,000, up from £43,333 in 2004. l The average level of pay deals has fallen back slightly to 3.2 per cent.

An analysis of 49 settlements in the past few months showed the average was marginally lower than the 3.3 per cent in the quarter to March.

Incomes Data Services said the spread of pay rises had been widening, with half of all recent deals worth between 3 and 3.5 per cent. Most deals in the past few months were above the 2.9 per cent rate of inflation.

Alastair Hatchett of IDS said: "Although economic growth has been slower in the first half of 2005, pay settlements have remained stable."