Garnier fury at fat-cat frenzy

GLAXOSMITHKLINE chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier came out fighting in the row over his fat-cat pay today as he unveiled bumper profits for the drug giant's second quarter.

Garnier said the media reaction to the unprecedented move by shareholders to reject his proposed £22m payoff at Glaxo's annual meeting in May had gone too far.

He said: 'Maybe I wasn't at the same meeting. It was not that different from the previous year's. We had some very good discussions about the business, where we are going, and about the compensation policy.

'I can understand the symbolic effect the vote had but we already knew there was a sufficient amount of controversy about our compensation policy and that we needed to review it.'

Accountants Deloitte & Touche are looking at Glaxo's pay structure and Garnier said he did not know when the review would be completed. He denied reports he has accepted a switch from a two-year to one-year contract.

His case for higher pay will be bolstered by today's figures. Despite greater generic competition to key antibiotic Augmentin, pre-tax profits shot ahead 13% to £1.97bn.

Cost savings lifted the trading margin and made up for slower sales growth. Turnover nudged forward 3% to £5.38bn on constant exchange rates.

Glaxo has now upped its earnings goal for the year to growth of 'high single digits or better'. First-half earnings growth was 20%.