FTSE's ?1m woman on the move

The highest paid woman in the FTSE 100 has unexpectedly quit her job to concentrate on finding a bigger role.

Helen Weir, finance director at Kingfisher, parent of the B&Q do-it-yourself chain, was the only female director in the UK's top 100 companies to earn more than £1m last year. She banked £1.2m in 2002, but her inclusion in the millionaires' club - alongside 189 men - was partly down to a controversial £334,000 relocation allowance. Mrs Weir received the payment for moving about 40 miles from a village in Hampshire to a new home in Buckinghamshire. Her basic pay was £299,000.

The 41-year-old has now resigned to search for a chief executive's job, although she will not leave the company until March 31 next year. Group chief executive Gerry Murphy said: "She has not been fired or pushed."

Mrs Weir will not receive a payoff and her share options will now lapse. She will not have to repay the relocation allowance, or any part of it. Under the terms of the payment the finance chief had to agree to stay with the company for two years after it was made or hand cash back to the company.

Although details of the payment were made public only in last year's annual report, it was made the previous year and the two year payback period recently expired.

A spokesman for Kingfisher said Mrs Weir had played a central role in restructuring the retail group and resigned in order to look for a bigger challenge: "Helen has been finance director for three years. It has been a very busy time - she helped demerge Woolworths and the electrical businesses, and sold Superdrug. Going forward the job will be very different. She wants to move into a more general management role."

Kingfisher - which also owns France's leading DIY chain, Castorama - yesterday announced third-quarter sales figures, ahead of a two-day investor update it is holding for analysts later this week.

The figures showed a dip in sales during the hot summer as people postponed big building projects in favour of lazy days in the garden.

Group like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to November 1 were ahead 3.6%, compared with 5.5% in the first half. UK sales were up 2.7%, against 5.6% in the first half, while sales in France climbed 4%, a decline from growth of 5.3%.

"Heavy jobs aren't attractive when the sun is shining," Mr Murphy said. "In October, once the weather reverted to normal, we saw a resumption of more normal trading."

The shares climbed 5.25p to close at 286p because Kingfisher had warned of the slow down in September and the final figures were better than many analysts expected. The spokesman said the company did not believe the recent quarter-point increase in interest rates would affect trade.

Mrs Weir will be succeeded by Duncan Tatton-Brown, 38, finance director at the B&Q operation.