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Last year’s contribution amounted to more than a third of the £13.1 million pensions contributions given to the 6,500 employees in their “excellent” scheme. The directors’ payment also came out of the blue, as many observers had naively thought that a £12.9 million fund that was begun only last year might have been a one-off, able to last a little while before being topped up. It now appears that that was only three years’ worth of contributions for the hard-working directors, who have sadly yet to see any of their business plans come to fruition.

The extra pension payment came as the directors also awarded themselves repayment of a “loan note” worth a cool £10 million between the four directors of the Phoenix consortium that rescued Rover four years ago on a wave of public support. This loan note, on which they have already received £1.2 million interest, was intended to reward them for the “risk” they took when, for only £10, BMW gave them a factory, a stack of ready-made cars and a

£500 million dowry float. This is not a definition of risk that would find its way into many dictionaries.

But the directors say that they took risk with advisers and their huge payments. The fees could have been as much as £8 million, but they are not sure because some were on success fees only if the takeover worked. It is strange that these advisory fees have not been more clearly defined and highlighted before now.

If the MG Rover directors are redefining risk, they are also redefining the meaning of greed. That may be for them and their consciences, but with sales tumbling alarmingly, the company can ill-afford the loss of goodwill among potential customers and employees they have surely contributed to.

Rules there to be broken

PUTTING Kidde together with United Technologies Corporation makes sound industrial sense. The only thing preventing the Kidde board from agreeing to the overtures from the United States is the matter of price. In an early approach in the summer, UTC mooted 140p a share. Now it has come back talking of 160p. but Kidde’s chairman, Norman Askew, and his board reckon that the business is worth more.

On the back of Kidde’s performance since it gained its independence, investors seem minded to agree with the board. Kidde believes that UTC might share this view if it took a look at the books, but is not about to open them wide without a few precautions. In particular, it wants a promise that UTC will not take a peek and then use the ammunition to launch a hostile bid. One might say that such caution belies its apparent confidence in the numbers, but there is surely room for negotiation here.

The UTC argument is that it never agrees to such terms, but Kidde seems prepared to negotiate a relatively short standstill period and perhaps to waive it should another hostile bidder materialise. It may be the moment for UTC to make a minor exception to its rules.

THIS will be a particularly nerve-racking Christmas for Richard Baker. The Boots chief executive has demonstrated that by slashing prices he can pull people into his stores and even make them buy more, but buying volume is the easy part of the trick. Costs are rising and the share buyback has bolstered debt, so he needs to start rebuilding those margins. A fine festive season is crucial. But summer failed to arrive, hitting projected sales of warm-weather products. Mr Baker must hope that Father Christmas remembers Boots.

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