Enterprise pays full whack for a part-time FD

The former finance director of pubs giant Enterprise Inns left with a £500,000 farewell package despite having retired voluntarily and stepped down from the board almost a year ago.

Enterprise shares have lost three-quarters of their value in the 11 months since David George stood down as finance director last January. He remained an employee of the company for another six months.

Enterprise's accounts revealed he was paid exactly the same – £746,000 – in the year to last September as he was in the previous 12 months.

Even when he left Enterprise's employment at the end of July, he moved on to a £100,000-a-year consultancy deal to take him through until next August.

Mr George was at Enterprise almost for 20 years and the pub company even picked up a £5,000 legal bill for advice about his payoff. By contrast, Enterprise's chief executive Ted Tuppen saw his pay package slashed from £1.22m to £910,000 in the past year as pre-tax profits fell by 10 per cent.