Ousted Marconi chief seeks £1m pay-off

NEWS Marconi's new chairman Derek Bonham and ousted CEO Lord Simpson have held preliminary talks about a possible £1m pay-off for the former executive. Simpson is entitled up to around £1.2m paid into a funded, but unapproved, retirement benefit scheme since 1997, the Financial Times reports. Lord Simpson and former chairman Sir Roger Hurn were ousted from the troubled telecoms equipment firm last week after the company warned that losses for the year could top £5bn,
following worse than expected trading and massive write-downs. Both sides are said to be keen to resolve the matter. Former chairman Hurn has waived the rights to the £300,000 he was entitled to. Marconi has lost more than 97 per cent of its value since last year.