Friday morning business bulletin

May 16 2008 By Karen Dent

The troubled opening of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 cost BA boss Willie Walsh his annual bonus today, despite the airline posting record profits.

The chief executive said he felt any award would have been "inappropriate" given the problem-hit move to the new building in March. It saw dozens of flights cancelled, thousands of passengers separated from their bags and dealt a huge blow to the airline’s reputation.

Mr Walsh was speaking after unveiling record pre-tax profits of £883m for the year to March 31, up 45% on the previous year. The performance has triggered a £35m bonus pool for BA’s other 42,000 staff, as well as the company’s first dividend payment for seven years.

Mr Walsh said: "I felt in the context of the disappointing opening associated with Terminal 5 that it would be inappropriate for me to take a bonus despite the excellent financial performance of the company."

Under his remuneration package, he is entitled to a maximum bonus of 100% of salary depending on a series of criteria. During the year to March 2007 he was paid a salary of £625,000. The profits hike came despite a year of soaring oil costs which saw the airline’s fuel bill top £2 billion.

English football’s dominance of the Uefa Champions League today helped bookmaker Ladbrokes to post better-than-expected trading figures.

With three teams in the semi-final and Manchester United and Chelsea contesting the tightest Premier League in years, Ladbrokes said there had been "particularly strong growth" in football turnover so far this year.

The improvement coincided with the company’s first television advertising campaign, featuring ex-players Ian Wright, Ally McCoist and Lee Dixon.

The amount left by losing horse racing punters was slightly lower, which Ladbrokes said was due to strong comparatives with a year earlier and the impact of joint-favourite Comply or Die’s win in the Grand National.

Overall, the group said profits were up by 13% in the first four months of the year, excluding a £40 million boost from the company’s high-rolling customers. Shares jumped by 4% following the trading update.

British Energy today said it had received a "range of proposals" from several parties wishing to make a full offer for the nuclear power firm.

The group did not disclose the names of the companies involved, but said it planned to hold discussions with all the parties over the next few weeks.

British Energy said: "The board wishes to stress that each of the proposals requires further development and that the process is therefore likely to continue for a number of weeks."

It said the proposals included offers above the company’s closing share price last night. European energy giant EDF is seen as the favourite to land the company, given its experience in running nuclear power stations in France. However Spain’s Iberdrola, which owns Scottish Power, and German industrial group RWE are also likely to be in the frame.

The pound at 9am was US$1.9487 compared to US$1.9491 at the previous close, while the euro at 9am was £0.7952 compared to £0.7948 at the previous close.