GEC changes rules for Lord Weinstock

LORD WEINSTOCK, managing director of GEC, will not have to face re-election for the next three years following the company's annual meeting next month.

In July Lord Weinstock, who had a 5.8 per cent pay rise to pounds 544,000 last year according to the company's report and accounts, was invited to stay on as managing director for two years. Having reached 70 he will routinely, under company law, offer himself for re-election at the annual meeting.

Under GEC's articles of association the post of managing director, which Lord Weinstock has occupied for the past 31 years, has not been subject to retirement by rotation as have all the other GEC directors.

The company is proposing to change the articles so that the managing director will retire every three years by rotation and offer himself for re-election. This means that Lord Weinstock will not next be subject to re-election as managing director until 1997, when he may have retired.

There has been some disquiet among institutional shareholders about GEC's decision to retain Lord Weinstock as managing director for another two years and the lack of any clear line of succession to the post.

In particular there has been concern that Lord Weinstock is said to be keen to see his son Simon in the post.