Atkins duo bag £770,000 in pay-offs

ENGINEERING and support services group WS Atkins made pay-offs totalling almost £770,000 to the two directors who quit the company following two profit warnings last year.

Former chief executive Robin Southwell, who resigned last September after the second profits warning, was handed £606,000 in cash and shares.

Ric Piper, who resigned as finance chief in October to join publisher Trinity Mirror, received £163,000 in cash and shares. Piper later collected more than £400,000 and an apology from Trinity Mirror after the company's chairman Sir Victor Blank told him he was not wanted, given the turmoil that followed the profits warning at WS Atkins.

Trinity Mirror tore up Piper's contract as finance director a day before he was due to start the job. The publisher paid out and apologised on the eve of legal action by Piper. Shares in WS Atkins plunged 72% on the day of the second profits warning. The company blamed a doubling of its debts and the botched introduction of new financial reporting systems, which affected billing and cost control.

Southwell was paid compensation for loss of office totalling £399,810. There was also a contribution of £76,000 to his pension scheme. In addition, he was paid £18,750 for legal fees and outplacement support. Southwell took his bonus in shares via the directors' pre-tax equity participation plan. The balance of the £606,000 is made up of shares.

Southwell bought 48,321 Atkins shares while he was chief executive. These are currently worth just under £160,000. He is now chief executive for Air Tanker, a consortium of European defence groups including Airbus owner European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, Thales, Rolls-Royce and Cobham that is bidding for a £13bn Private Finance Initiative to run the RAF's air-to-air refuelling for the next 27 years.

WS Atkins took nine months to appoint Southwell's replacement, Keith Clarke. He joined from construction firm Skanska on a salary of £340,000.

The company's shares, having slumped to a low of 52p last October, have steadily climbed back. They closed last night at 319p.