C&W pays Caio £2.2m

Francesco Caio, the chief executive of Cable & Wireless, was paid £2.18m in the year to 31 March, including a £375,000 golden hello to compensate for lost benefits at his previous employer.

Francesco Caio, the chief executive of Cable & Wireless, was paid £2.18m in the year to 31 March, including a £375,000 golden hello to compensate for lost benefits at his previous employer.

Mr Caio is also in line for large share option payments this year with the board intending to grant him options of three times his salary, which was £700,000 last year.

His fellow executives, including Kevin Loosemore, the chief operating officer, will get share option grants equal to two-and-a-half times their basic salaries.

The C&W annual report, published yesterday, reiterated the pay-offs for C&W's former directors who left as part of a major restructuring of the telecoms group. These included Graham Wallace, the former chief executive, whose two-year contract was negotiated down to a £387,500 pay-off equal to six months' salary. However, Mr Wallace also received a £500,000 pension boost equal to 14 months' pensionable service. He has an annual pension of £231,000 and a pension pot of £3.35m. C&W said £12.1m had been included as a provision in the company's accounts to cover the cost of former directors' pension entitlements.

On top of a £700,000 salary, Mr Caio received a bonus of £1.25m which included the golden hello, compensating him for leaving Netscalibur, his previous employer. He also got a performance-related bonus of £870,800.