Carpets chief gets £1m pay-off after five months

Geoff Brady, chief executive of Allied Carpets, left the company yesterday with a pay-off of up to £1m for just five months' work. Mr Brady, 45, joined the struggling carpet retailer in July only weeks before the French group Tapis Saint-Maclau launched a successful takeover bid.

Geoff Brady, chief executive of Allied Carpets, left the company yesterday with a pay-off of up to £1m for just five months' work. Mr Brady, 45, joined the struggling carpet retailer in July only weeks before the French group Tapis Saint-Maclau launched a successful takeover bid.

Mr Brady worked for five months at an annual salary of £222,000. He had an 18 month contract which entitles him to a pay-off of £330,000. He will also make £620,000 from a million phantom share options which were awarded to him at 31p per share. The shares are currently trading at 93p and are due to be de-listed on Friday after the French takeover is completed.

Mr Brady is to spend more time as the chairman of 21Store.com, an Internet retailer founded in 1995 and which is planning to float in the next 18 months. Mr Brady said: "I could have gone back to bricks and mortar retailing but given the pressure being exerted on the market by Asda-Wal-Mart I will probably spend two to three days a week at 21Store.com". He said the company had a very good web site. "The only problem is that not enough people have heard of it."

Allied Carpets' new French owners have appointed Pierre Bisquay as finance director. He joins in early January.