Struggling Merant pays chief £103,000 bonus

Merant, the troubled software group, drew the wrath of institutional investors yesterday after revealing it paid its chief executive a £103,000 performance bonus last year despite a profits warning from the company and poor results in the period.

Merant, the troubled software group, drew the wrath of institutional investors yesterday after revealing it paid its chief executive a £103,000 performance bonus last year despite a profits warning from the company and poor results in the period.

Gary Greenfield received the bonus on top of his basic salary of £248,000. Merant said the award related to Mr Greenfield meeting earnings per share targets set for the first half of the year, and Merant had not run into difficulties until the third quarter. "The bonus reflects the fact that Mr Greenfield's basic salary is relatively low, as is the norm in the US," said a spokesman.

Merant was formed from the merger of Intersolv, a US software group, and Micro Focus, a UK rival. However, 89 per cent of its investors are British.

One leading institutional investor said: "It's appalling. This doesn't stand up for the creation of shareholder value."

Merant issued a profits warning two weeks prior to its 30 April year end. In February, it blamed disappointing quarterly results on bad weather. The share price has fallen from 487.5p to 96.5p since February.