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To: maceng2 who wrote (63)	10/8/2002 8:36:05 PM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1417

Marconi chiefs in line for £2m rescue reward By Dan Sabbagh, Telecoms Correspondent [Note from pb...so this is called a "rescue"????I think the remaining shareholders should sell as a group and use the remaining cash to sue the management team until the money ran out. Better in the lawyers pockets then theirs] timesonline.co.uk MARCONI’S three executive directors are in line for bonus payouts totalling nearly £2 million, or one and a half times their respective salaries, if they pull off a rescue of the troubled group. The proposed bonuses will come as a surprise to almost all shareholders of the telecoms equipment maker, even though 300 of them confronted Marconi’s board in an annual meeting yesterday. The details emerged after an inspection of the directors’ service contracts, available only at the sidelines of the annual meeting. They were agreed on May 24, one week after the company’s 2002 annual report was finalised. Mike Parton, chief executive, can expect £787,500; Mike Donovan, chief operating officer, stands to make £600,000; and Steve Hare, finance director, could take £562,500. All were board members in 2001 when the company posted two severe profits warnings, although the first two held more junior positions for part of that period. A spokesman for the company defended the payouts as a rentention incentive program and denied they had been kept quiet. He added: “The directors’ service contracts have been available for public inspection since May and still can be viewed.” The annual meeting heard repeated apologies from Derek Bonham, chairman, about the financial collapse of Marconi. Mr Bonham said: “I have been unable to do more to rescue the share price for you and I apologise for that.” His remarks failed to mollify the shareholders. They complained that the company’s financial rescue, agreed with its creditor banks and bondholders, leaves them only 0.5 per cent of the new company and no right to vote on the transaction. Brian Peart, a retired builder, summed up the mood when he attacked Marconi’s former bosses, Lord Simpson of Dunkeld and John Mayo, saying: “How disgusting that they walked away with excessive salaries, golden handshakes and terrific receipts into their pensions.” He added: “The true owners are left with half a per cent. This affair leaves me and probably many others with little confidence in shareholding and the workings of the City.”