Baltimore rations cream for fat cats

NEWS Struggling security vendor Baltimore Technologies has introduced 'anti-fat cat' measures in a bid to appease investors and employees hit by the firm's dwindling fortunes. In a statement to the London Stock Exchange the company said it will limit new CEO Bijan Khezri's salary to £150,000 this year. The rights to bonuses will also be waived. Others targeted are the chairman - whose salary will be more than halved, from £90,000 to £40,000 - and non-executive directors who will see their remuneration fall from £25,000 to £18,000. Directors will also miss out on potentially lucrative share options. Baltimore said the moves were not just to save cash, but to show "leadership and sensitivity" to shareholders and employees. Baltimore has been hit particularly hard by the downturn in the technology sector. What was once a FTSE100 company is now a penny stock. Baltimore has been forced to make hundreds of redundancies and change its CEO in a bid to cope with the new economic climate. But today's changes will be seen against a wider background of so-called executive 'fat cats' who are seen to be rewarded by their companies irrespective of failure. In the most recent example, Marconi's ex-CEO John Mayo was given more than £1m in cash after he left the firm on the brink of bankruptcy. Shares in Baltimore were trading at 17.5p at midday today, down nine per cent on the day.