Protest at Hanson chief's pay-off
INFLUENTIAL City institutions are questioning the pay-off for Hanson chief executive Andrew Dougal, who shocked the City by resigning from the blue-chip company to 'rebalance' his life.
A spokesman for the building materials group said it would give Dougal a £400,000 pay-off as part of his one-year contract. The latest report and accounts show he earned a further £137,000 in bonus payments last year. Dougal will also leave with options to purchase shares.
A spokesman for one leading UK institutional investor said: 'Executives who voluntarily resign should not be encouraged by big pay-offs'. His departure is also likely to attract criticism from American depositary receipt holders, who own 10.32% of the equity.
Dougal, 50, is quitting after five years in the job. 'After years of intensive effort, before, during and after the demergers, the time has come to rebalance my life,' he said.
Dougal reorganised the bricks and ready-mixed cement business that was built and run by two of Britain's most ruthless and driven businessmen, Lord Hanson and the late Lord White. When 'Gordy' White died in August 1995 James Hanson decided to break up the Hanson empire. It straddled interests from bricks to tobacco. Five years ago then finance director Dougal was brought in to oversee the task. It involved him spending as much as half the year travelling to the 20 countries in which the Hanson empire has an interest. In that time the business has been almost totally reorganised.
Two-thirds of last year's £351m profits came from America, where the company is now almost a household name in the construction and housebuilding industry.
Earlier this month Dougal spoke of 'rebalancing his life' so he could spend more time with his PE teacher wife Margaret, 22-year-old daughter Alison and two sons Callum and Gavin aged 19 and nine at their Camberley, Surrey, home.
He said he was 'relearning golf and I share a fitness trainer with my wife'. Just two weeks ago he said his ambition was 'tied into my company. I want Hanson to maintain its lead and keep growing'. He will be succeeded by 48-year-old Alan Murray, president and chief executive of the American arm of the Hanson business.
