Atkins disaster costs finance chief new Trinity Mirror job

Trinity Mirror, the media group that last week announced its chief executive was quitting, yesterday decided it no longer wanted Ric Piper to fill the vacant finance director's post.

Mr Piper is the out-going finance director of WS Atkins, the support services group which shocked the City on Tuesday with a profits warnings that saw its shares plunge 72 per cent. He was due to start his new job at Trinity Mirror yesterday, to fill a post vacant since the end of July, when Margaret Ewing left for the finance director post at BAA.

However, Mr Piper, 47, was told at a hastily convened meeting on Tuesday night that the company no longer wanted him. As Mr Piper had signed a contract with Trinity over the summer he is entitled to compensation, which could be as much as £300,000 – a year's pay.

Analysts said the news left a "leadership vacuum" at Trinity Mirror, while the City continues to question the company's strategy. Philip Graf, the chief executive, is leaving next summer. Headhunters will now try and quickly fill both positions.

Trinity Mirror said that, given the nature of the problems at Atkins, Mr Piper's appointment was "no longer appropriate". Trinity Mirror is understood to have been alarmed at the huge escalation of debt at Atkins, which doubled unexpectedly to £120m over a six-month period. Its trading update also revealed that Atkins botched the introduction of a new technology system, which had been more difficult and costly than expected. This "had an adverse impact on billing and control".

These factors, high-lighted in the profits warning, caused deep disquiet at Trinity Mirror, which regards such "control" issues as falling firmly under the finance director's remit. Debt at Trinity Mirror is about £750m. It dispatched a representative to attend Atkins' annual general meeting, which also took place on Tuesday. At the AGM, Atkins' chairman, Michael Jeffries, laid part of the blame for company's problems on the finance director – a message relayed to Trinity Mirror.

Mr Piper was summoned to a meeting at Gatwick airport after the AGM, with David Marlow, a Trinity Mirror non-executive director, and Mr Graf, who was due to depart to Blackpool to attend the Labour Party conference. Trinity Mirror said it was decided by "mutual consent" that Mr Piper would not join the company. Mr Piper did not return calls yesterday.