Debt-laden Telewest agrees £1.2m pay-off for ousted Singer

Telewest Communications, the debt-laden cable company, yesterday forced out its chief executive, Adam Singer saying it needed a new style of management.

The departure of Mr Singer came on the eve of the company's half-year results announcement, though Telewest said the figures would be in line with expectations.

Commenting on the decision, Cob Stenham, Telewest's chairman, said: "Given our financial position, the independent directors believe the company needs a different management style to take the business through its next phase."

Charles Burdick, the finance director, will become managing director and lead the negotiations on the financial restructuring.

Mr Singer, 50, had been chief executive of Telewest since April 2000. But the shares have plunged since the peak of the telecoms boom and now stand at just 2p, against a high of 563p two years ago. The company is labouring under £5.3bn of debt and has been in negotiations with investors about a possible debt-for-equity swap. The rival cable company NTL has already restructured its balance sheet in this way.

Mr Singer will receive a pay-off of £1.2m. He was on a two-year contract with an annual salary of £600,000.

Telewest declined to comment further on the reasons for Mr Singer's departure. However, it is understood that the company felt that his bucaneering, entrepreneurial style was not suited to the current, more straitened economic environment.

Mr Singer has also been the subject of negative press coverage recently. This included criticism of his £186,000 bonus for the past year during which the shares went into freefall.

It is thought some in the company felt Mr Singer was too close to Liberty Media, which is the group's largest shareholder with a 25 per cent stake.

John Malone, the US cable billionaire who runs Liberty, earlier this month abandoned plans to buy up to a fifth of Telewest's bonds in order to give his company a greater say in the debt restructuring. At that time the three Liberty members on the Telewest board resigned as directors. It was the remaining four non-executives who decided a new chief executive was needed.

Mr Singer joined Telewest at the time of its takeover of Flextech, the pay-TV company in the spring of 2000. He previously spent much of his career in the US, working for Mr Malone at Liberty. He also worked at United Artists Programming and the BBC.

At its peak two years ago Telewest had a market value of about £12bn and was riding the wave of the telecoms boom. In his time as chief executive, Mr Singer increased cable customer numbers to 1.8 million in the face of tough competition from Rupert Murdoch's satellite TV company BSkyB. He also marketed a three-way TV, telephone and broadband internet access package, which is taken by 107,000 customers.

But debts have mounted and the share price has been hammered. Telewest has reported a loss for 25 consecutive quarters as a public company.

Yesterday's statement came just before the market closed. The shares fell 0.25p to 2p.