BT poaches Dixons man for £3million

BT has poached its new finance director from high street electrical chain Dixons with a pay and shares package worth over £3million over the next three years.

Ian Livingston, 37, was the youngest-ever finance director of a FT-SE 100 Index company when he took that role at Dixons in 1998.

Mr Livingston said: "I haven't done the maths on my package and it's not really about the money. After all, Dixons paid me very well.

"But BT is a great challenge. It is a mainstay of the British economy and despite what some people might think, it is in much better financial shape than many other telecoms companies."

Mr Livingston, who lives with his wife and two children in Hertfordshire, is the first recruit of BT's new Dutch chief executive Ben Verwaayen who formally took up his role, on a package worth ? 9 million, on Friday.

Mr Livingston's basic salary will be £450,000 but he will be able to earn up to three quarters of this again in bonuses and BT will give him shares worth £1.35 million plus other share options.