Marconi man loses £200,000
John Mayo, former finance director and current deputy chief executive at Marconi, has seen more than £200,000 wiped off the value of his shares in the troubled telecommunications giant.
Appointed in 1997, Mayo is the largest equity holder among board directors with a total of 164,300 shares in the hi-tech communications company.
Their value fell from 245p to 117p within half an hour of trading opening today (Thursday). They rose to just 118p by late afternoon after dipping to a low 112.5p.
The sharp drop in price followed Wednesday’s profits warning and announcement that 4,000 jobs were to go worldwide. Around £3bn was knocked off the company’s market capitalisation, which had stood at around £9.8bn.
Mayo, ICAEW trained, is expected to succeed Lord George Simpson as CEO and has been followed in the FD’s position by Steve Hare who now finds himself thrust into the spotlight.
From a high this morning of £400,000, Mayo’s holding had fallen by more than half to around £190,000 this afternoon.
Lord Simpson is reported as describing the last six months as ‘probably the worst in the history of the industry.’
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