Garrett-Cox walks away with £668,000 and £5m in shares as ATS becomes CISI corporate member

Katherine Garrett-Cox will leave Dundee-based investment firm Alliance Trust today with a redundancy payment of £668,000 and share options worth £5million.

The firm’s annual report reveals that Mrs Garrett-Cox earned a total £1.43million in 2015, up from the previous year’s £1.38m.

Her performance bonus of £411,000 was well below the previous year’s £576,000, but long-term share awards increased from £184,000 to £438,000.

She also received a fee of 100,000 euros for being on the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank.

Mrs Garrett-Cox was made redundant through the restructuring process that took place in the wake of last year’s shareholder revolt led by Elliott Advisors.

Two other executives were also removed from the board.

On leaving the company today after nine years Mrs Garrett-Cox is entitled to a year’s salary of £450,000, a redundancy payment of £5225, an agreed compensation payment of £78,335, a pension payment of £112,000, and an unstated amount for contractual benefits which were last year £23,000.

The remuneration committee report states: “The committee considered all the circumstances and concluded that she was redundant. There was therefore no need to apply discretion and her existing awards under the long-term incentive plan will not lapse on the cessation of her employment but will, instead, vest subject to…the plan’s rules.”

Mrs Garrett-Cox holds options over 1,019,550 shares which vest between next month and May 2020, worth £4.94m at current value.

Her £410,000 bonus was 61per cent of the permitted maximum, with Alliance Trust ranking 17th out of 35 funds for net asset value total return triggering one of the weaker elements of her award.

Former finance director Alan Trotter was also declared redundant.

He received a total £634,000 last year, up from £613,000, and his pay-off is worth £470,000 including £245,000 for salary, an agreed £180,000 of compensation, a £49,000 pension payment, and the right to keep options over 372,218 shares currently worth £1.8m

Meanwhile, the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) has revealed the Trust’s subsidiary, Alliance Trust Savings, as a corporate member.

A CISI statement said: “As a CISI Corporate Member Alliance Trust Savings has demonstrated commitment to building and developing the financial planning profession by partnering with the CISI in the UK through CPD events, workshops and conferences.”

Richard Bennett, CISI regional director, said: “We look forward to engaging with Alliance Trust Savings throughout 2016/17 during our many professional events to support the growth of the financial planning community.”

Damian Smyth, head of intermediary sales, ATS added: “CISI has an excellent reputation for promoting the financial services community over the years and we are extremely pleased to support them across their established network of 24 branches in the UK and Channel Islands.”