£470,000 Salvesen pay-off row

THE furore over rewards for boardroom failure flared up again today as Christian Salvesen - the subject of a substantial shareholders' revolt earlier this month over directors' contracts - pushed out its finance chief with a two-year pay-off.

Three weeks after the company refused to back down from a policy of keeping its executives on two-year rolling contracts, it today relieved finance director Peter Aspden of his duties with immediate effect - issuing him with a cheque for £470,000, equivalent to two years' basic pay.

At its annual meeting Salvesen refused to amend its controversial policy of two-year 'rollers' for Aspden and chief executive Edward Roderick.

Comments from a spokesman make it plain that Aspden, 51, has been axed because of the company's woeful record.

It has issued a string of profit warnings and cut the dividend by 45%. Its shares have fallen 75% in the past three years.

'The board wanted to make a change,' said the spokesman. 'His departure is related to the company's recent performance. The board felt it needed fresh blood and fresh ideas.'

Roderick, paid £570,000 last year, stays on a two-year roller. The National Association of Pension Funds said: 'This sort of pay-off is why we have campaigned for the removal of two-year rolling contracts. This is two years of shareholders' money going in circumstances in which shareholders have already lost out from years of underperformance.'