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The fact that Lescure has left is positive, as he was undermining confidence in the stock.”A report in Le Monde yesterday told of behind-the-scenes moves among members of the main Vivendi board to rein in Mr Messier and limit his powers.Mr Messier has been under severe pressure because of a failure to deliver a convincing group strategy and a way to manage Vivendi’s massive debt pile. Yesterday he took some of the blame, admitting that his communication with the outside world had been “too frequent” and “too personal” in recent years.. Standard Chartered, the London-based emerging markets bank, has ended a longstanding row with its former chief executive over his compensation by offering him £3.2m in a settlement broadly welcomed yesterday by the corporate governance lobby. There will also be £700,000 to cover expatriate allowances and a £200,000 bonus payment in respect of his performance in 2001.The aggregate award is 24 per cent lower than the £4.2m full value of Mr Talwar’s contract, which entitled him to 24 months’ worth of his emoluments in 2000, his last full year of employment with the bank.A spokesman for the bank said the settlement had been agreed after negotiation, but was “amicable”. The sum was within a provision included in Standard Chartered’s year-2001 operating costs.In 2000, Mr Talwar received $2.15m (£1.48m) in salary, bonus and benefits, with a further $480,000 in allowances on top of pension contributions totalling $418,000.The bonus payment in respect of 2001, at 23 per cent of Mr Talwar’s basic salary, is lower than awards to his former boardroom colleagues, who received bonuses of between 80 per cent and 120 per cent of their salary last year.Mr Talwar is dutybound to find work elsewhere, and any payments from new employment will be deducted from Standard Chartered’s compensation awards. The staggered pay-off won plaudits for Standard Chartered from the Association of British Insurers, the National Association of Pension Funds, and PIRC, the corporate governance action group.. SSL is still at the centre of a fraud investigation after previous management is alleged to have overstated profits and artificially inflated sales figures.Brian Buchan, the chief executive, said operating margins would be less than 14 per cent, not the 16 per cent he had predicted just five months ago.”I don’t feel apologetic about that.

This is the first time that we have been able to do an analysis on a full-year’s trading. We have an increasingly clear view of the business and its costs, and the business has got fatter than it should have.”The group is focusing on four core brands, including Durex and Scholl, the maker of shoes, socks and odour eaters. Mr Buchan said recent disposals had reduced the need for a large back-office staff.About 150 jobs are going in North-west England, including at its headquarters in Cheshire, which is to close. A further 150 sales and financial jobs are going in continental Europe.And there are likely to be additional layoffs before the end of the year, after management promised a “fundamental re-examination” of its manufacturing business. Mr Buchan said options included outsourcing a greater proportion of its manufacturing, and an overhaul of its suppliers. The group employs 5,000 people in manufacturing, mainly in the Far East, with 850 in the UK.Mr Buchan insisted about half the reduction in forecast margins was down to the recent hike in insurance premiums, but there was still strong criticism from analysts and investors. Paul Diggle, an analyst at WestLB Panmure, said: “The feeling is that investors have had their patience terribly tried and, even after a new management, even after a year that was supposed to sort out most of the big problems, there is still more restructuring needed to improve things.”SSL shares tumbled 161.5p to 419.5p, wiping out the gains of the last 14 months.The Serious Fraud Office is investigating SSL’s finances after the company admitted in 2000 that profits had been overstated by £19m.

The company had also been artificially inflating sales figures by encouraging wholesalers to take on more stock than they could sell by offering knock-down prices. The practice, known as trade loading, was estimated to have inflated reported sales by £63m The investigation is likely to last at least another year. Yesterday’s statement confirmed SSL had finally eliminated all excess stock.. GUS, the retail and financial information group which is planning to seek a stock market flotation of Burberry, its luxury goods brand, warned yesterday that current retail growth rates in the UK are unsustainable. “This time last year the Chancellor was cutting taxes and interest rates were coming down. You will see a big slowdown in April and a continued slowdown thereafter And that’s fine. What we are saying is that Argos will continue to outperform the market.”Argos has broadened its product range and cut prices to drive sales.