Thanks No Million

Former EMI finance director Martin Stewart doesn’t look to have had reason to say thanks a million when accepting his settlement package, according to a September 25 Times story saying he left without a penny.

The EMI group’s annual report shows that chief exec Eric Nicoli was entitled to a £1.7 million lump sum payment on termination of employment, while Stewart was due to get £1.3 million.

According to The Times, EMI says Stewart didn’t get any cash because he resigned and therefore wasn’t entitled to a payout.

Nicoli, on the other hand, was asked to leave. He’s believed to have exited with a package worth about £2.8 million.

The paper said it’s unusual for a top exec who knows he may be dismissed to risk losing the opportunity to receive some sort of severance payoff.

Stewart is said to have earned £764,300 last year, which included a base salary of £551,200 and a £192,900 bonus.

The annual report says his contract could be terminated "on one year’s notice," with the only exceptions being resignation or "gross misconduct or other circumstances justifying summary dismissal."

The payments due to him for a routine termination of employment would include £551,200 of base salary, benefits worth £229,405 and half his maximum annual bonus, £275,600. The total sum due would have been £1.05 million.

EMI is now run by a team reporting to Guy Hands, whose Terra Firma venture capitalist outfit paid £3.2 billion to take it private in July.

The day-to-day responsibilities of Nicoli and Stewart are being undertaken by Chris Roling, who is both chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

Lord Birt, the former strategy adviser to Tony Blair (when he was prime minister) and director-general of the BBC, joined the supervisory board at EMI in September.

He has been working for Terra Firma on a variety of portfolios since leaving his political advisory position in 2005.