Chicken run comes to an end for worst-paid chief executive

Peter Giller of International Power, the only chief executive of a major quoted company to be paid entirely in shares, was kicked upstairs yesterday and put back on a cash salary.

His successor, the company's chief operating officer David Crane, will receive a "traditional" pay package consisting of cash and performance bonuses.

Mr Giller has seen his pay packet dwindle by 70 per cent since he became chief executive of the electricity generator in October, 2000 because of the collapse in International Power's share price.

At the time, he agreed to a three-year pay deal notionally worth £2m under which he received 677,000 shares payable in three installments, instead of a conventional salary. He also received a £1,100 weekly housing allowance to pay for an apartment in London's St Katherine's Dock.

However, the collapsing share price has cut Mr Giller's pay for the current year to £190,000, making him the worst paid chief executive of a major company. Last month he joked that he and his wife got by on half-price chickens bought just before the supermarket closed.

Ironically, International Power shares rose 10.7 per cent yesterday to 106.5p on the news that Mr Giller is being replaced as chief executive.

He is being moved upstairs to become non-executive deputy chairman from 1 January next year on a flat salary of £100,000. He will lose his housing allowance.

However, International Power is honouring the final tranche of Mr Giller's shares deal and also awarding him 255,000 performance shares which, in total, amounts to a pay-off worth £444,000.

His successor, Mr Crane, is an American attorney who joined the company in March, 2000 in advance of its demerger later that year. Last year Mr Crane was paid £467,000. A spokes-woman said his new pay package had not yet been finalised.