consolidation an option for sip?, page-3

I'm sorry but we paid Elmo too much for destroying our company...... Just thought you guys would like to see what we paid him.... I understand that Mark Hooper is doing a reasonable job and $1m is generous but at least deserved! Dam i wish i received that type of pay check.

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Remuneration is a sweet pill to swallow

The former managing director of Sigma Pharmaceuticals Elmo de Alwis enjoyed an overdose of remuneration last year when he departed the ailing drug maker.

In its full-year accounts, which include an impressive $235 million full-year loss, Sigma has disclosed it paid de Alwis $1.5 million in termination payments when he left the company that was forced to restate its financial accounts earlier that year.

Sigma, whose share price has performed much worse than the 1980s model of the Mitsubishi car of the same name, noted de Alwis's goodbye package included $472,582 of accrued leave and 12 months' pay ($1.03 million).

Advertisement: Story continues below De Alwis was behind - in hindsight - one of the most poorly received capital raisings of the past decade. Just four months before the company reported a $398 million loss and a crash in its share price, Sigma completed a $297 million capital raising.

''I am pleased that Sigma has demonstrated its ability to weather the poor economic environment of the past 12 months and to produce an increase in net profit,'' de Alwis said in September 2009 when the raising was announced.

In yesterday's annual report Sigma disclosed that its new chief executive, Mark Hooper, (whom it lured from the ailing PaperlinX) was paid a $400,000 sign-on bonus and $460,990 in short-term bonuses. This took his pay for his first five months to $1.29 million.