Fury over £3m Marconi bonus

ANGRY shareholders today called on Marconi chief executive Mike Parton to forgo his controversial £3m bonus scheme as they expressed their fury over the group's decline.

Parton was urged to give up any future payments made under the scheme at a colourful annual meeting in London where shareholders also criticised Marconi's spiralling fees to advisers' and bankers' as well as moves to consolidate its shareholding structure further.

One investor said Parton should follow the example of Pierre Bilger, former chairman and chief executive of crisis-hit French group Alstom, who waived a e4m (£2.8m) bonus package after huge protests.

Marconi chairman John Devaney defended the scheme - which depends on Marconi hitting a raft of cash and performance targets - and said Parton had agreed already to waive a retention bonus put in place at the time of Marconi's £4bn debt-for-equity swap.

Parton told the meeting that the company was in a far more stable position with operating cashflow improving.

He said: 'We have tracked our sales decline against our competitors' and we have not lost any market share.'