tatsächlich hoffen:
Daily TelegraphFinal curtain for C&W's Wallace
By Mary Fagan (Filed: 12/01/2003)
Graham Wallace, the chief executive of Cable &
Wireless, is to leave the company within the next
few months following the appointment of Richard
Lapthorne, former finance director of British
Aerospace (now BAE Systems), as non-executive
chairman.
Whitehead Mann, the headhunters who helped
enlist Lapthorne, has already been appointed to find
a replacement for Wallace and have contacted a
number of potential candidates.
The troubled telecoms group, which has issued a
series of profit warnings over the past two years, is
also braced for a wider clearout of its boardroom.
The non-executive directors have already said they
will leave, if required to do so, before the annual
general meeting in July.
Lapthorne is expected to turn his attention to
nurturing C&W's cash-generative Regional
businesses, which include lucrative franchises in the
Caribbean, while deciding what to do with the
loss-making international operation, C&W Global.
Wallace had championed the expansion of Global, on
which the group has been heavily focused in recent
years and which has absorbed billions of pounds.
One person close to Lapthorne said: "Richard is
someone who knows his own mind and will act on it.
He will not move until he is ready, but when he does
he will do so decisively.
He will take personal responsibility for the strategy
and sorting out the difficulties, but he will also make
sure that the operational side is well looked after."
The arrival of Lapthorne, who is regarded as a
financial wizard, was welcomed by the City, with
C&W's shares jumping by 16 per cent to 57p.
He is credited with turning around BAE, which was
on the verge of collapse when he joined as finance
director in 1992 and where he remained until 1999.
He joins C&W on a three-year contract with a salary
of around £350,000 and will be given 1m shares
after the term is up. He will also buy 1m shares now
using his own money and a further 200,000 after
each year in the job.