Public relations has never really been British Telecommunications Plc’s strong suit, and the company’s annual report went down like a lead balloon when it was published yesterday, revealing that in a year when the company’s profits had fallen 5.5%, the Prime Minister was getting extremely testy about high pay rises in high places, the company was embarking on a programme to shed thousands of managers, and when it was locked in astringent pay negotiations with staff, the departing managing director Graeme Odgers got a UKP320,000 payout in settlement of his contract and chairman Iain Vallence got a 32% pay rise, and rises for the company’s directors averaged out at 23%.
