Departing United boss to pick up free shares

Philip Green struck a deal with United when he joined in February 2006 that it would match his acquisition of 100,000 shares if he remained at the helm for five years.

If the share price stays at its current level, the shares he is due to be given will be worth 626,000 and are not subject to performance conditions.

United announced that Mr Green will be replaced by Steve Mogford, currently boss of defence electronics company Selex Galileo. Mr Green is credited with refocusing the company back onto its core business as a water and sewage company.

He sold many of its non-core assets, such as its Australian subsidiary for 136m and Yorkshire gas distributor Northern Gas Networks for 86m.

Most recently, United offloaded several parts of its non-regulated business to Veolia Water UK for 174.2m.

The deal included operations in Bulgaria, Estonia and Poland, and outsourcing and industrial engineering contracts, such as a project to manage the building of a new waste water treatment works in the Brighton area for Southern Water.

The announcement made yesterday did not surprise the market as there has recently been speculation that the hunt for Mr Green's successor was under way.

The Warrington-based company's share price was not significantly changed.