Allen Mcclay, the retired founder of the Northern Irish drug maker Galen, has bought back another piece of the company to stave off its closure. Yesterday he added: “I am not a man for private yachts and all that, and you can only eat one breakfast, so the chemistry set has grown a bit.”Roger Boissonneault, the chief executive of Galen, said: “For some time now we have indicated that we intend to focus our business primarily on the US market where we have enjoyed excellent growth in recent years. They are world-class people and they have been slightly demotivated over the last few years as Galen’s focus switches to the US.”Dr McClay set up Galen in 1968 after several years working as a drug sales rep for Glaxo. A worst-case scenario could see Kingfisher pay out a total of 22 months’ salary over a year.The company paid Helen Weir, its former finance director, £814,000 last year. Bill Whiting, who has a part-time role, received £925,000.The report also showed that Kingfisher awarded its executive directors a 3 per cent pay rise last August, in line with the increases awarded to its UK-based management, administrative and store staff. This took Mr Murphy’s base salary to £825,000, while Mr Cheshire received £330,000 and Mr Duncan Tatton-Brown, £300,000..

Gerry Murphy, the chief executive of Kingfisher, racked up a total of £2.2m during his first 12 months running Europe’s biggest do-it-yourself retailer.
The payment, disclosed yesterday in the company’s annual report, comprised £1.6m in cash and £640,000 in shares, which Mr Murphy is not allowed to cash until 2006.The report also revealed that Kingfisher had introduced “phased” termination payments for Mr Murphy, Ian Cheshire, who heads its overseas arm, and Duncan Tatton-Brown, its group finance director, in an attempt to cap its potential liability in the event that it sacks a member of its executive board.If one of the trio is sacked, they will receive 15 per cent of their annual salary in compensation on a monthly basis for up to 12 months, or until they find a new job. Significantly, yesterday’s results did not include a forecast for the current year.The company was still in advanced talks to license out its treatments for lung problems, Mr Ashton said, but had other potential bidders waiting in the wings if the talks were to fail.SkyePharma attempted to shift the focus to royalties from existing products, which rose 177 per cent in 2003, but the company’s dispute with GlaxoSmithKline – which denies SkyePharma’s claim that it is entitled to substantially increased royalties on Paxil CR, the anti-depressant it helped create – is likely to go to arbitration.. He said: “Nobody I know could do a better job of running SkyePharma than Michael and we are the best of friends.”Mr Gowrie-Smith himself will move to a non-executive role after the annual shareholder meeting, having offered in December to step aside completely to pursue other business interests. The management is understood to retain the confidence of the company’s biggest institutional shareholder, Fidelity, which owns 14 per cent.He put the blame for the company’s history of “over-promising and under-delivering” on advisers who suggested the company should set out explicit financial guidance for analysts. The company posted a net loss of £43.2m for 2003, compared with a profit of £1.1m the year before and below analysts expectations, even after it issued a profit warning in January.The company is issuing £20m of convertible bonds to avert a cash crunch next year which could have been used by potential licensing partners to negotiate tougher terms.

Instead, SkyePharma is hoping to secure lower upfront payments in return for higher royalties.Mr Gowrie-Smith dismissed suggestions of a boardroom rift. Michael Ashton, the chief executive of the drug development group SkyePharma, yesterday insisted he was under no pressure to resign, despite the company’s failure to tie up two vital licensing deals by a self-imposed deadline.
As the group reported a set of disappointing results, Ian Gowrie-Smith, the chairman who is stepping back to a non-executive role, revealed that he had offered to quit at the end of last year but had been told to stay by the rest of the board.The two men put on a show of defiance, saying SkyePharma would not be bounced into licensing key drugs on unsatisfactory terms just to meet market forecasts. However, Tim Scott, ICI’s finance director, stressed that the group had not seen any price rise between the end of last year and the first three months of this. “We were able to get price increases last year when we needed to and if raw material prices rise again we would seek to repeat that,” he added.Mr Scott said ICI remained committed to remedying the problems in its Quest flavourings and fragrance division. The sale last month of Quest’s food ingredients arm to Kerry Group for £200m prompted speculation that ICI might dispose of the remainder of the business.