Caledonia job for ex-Abbey chief

TIM Ingram, the Abbey National senior executive ousted in the so-called 'night of the long knives' in February, has found a new berth as chief executive of Caledonia Investments, the Cayzer family's main investment vehicle.

Ingram, once a candidate to run Abbey, was let go alongside two other executive directors in a cull of senior management which saw chief executive Ian Harley consolidating his position.

Peter Buckley is splitting the chairman and chief executive roles at Caledonia to become chairman only, as previously announced. He denied the move was because of pressure from the Cayzers. 'I'm now approaching 60 and we've got to have management succession,' he said.

Despite a collapse in pre-tax profits from £55.7m to £8.2m in the year to March, Caledonia lifted the dividend for the 35th successive year to 25p from 24p last time.

Net assets per share, Buckley's preferred measure of performance, slipped by only 2.2%, which compared well with the 5.7% slide in the All Share index, he said. Caledonia's discount to net assets, a particular bugbear with shareholders, shrank from 30% to 25%.

Buckley said the company was well placed, following the realisation of £88m from the sale of English & Scottish Investors, to pursue new investment opportunities.