SMITH QUITS REED AFTER EIGHT MONTHS

Ian Smith will get a £1million- plus pay-off for his short stint at the top of the Anglo-Dutch company that publishes Farmers’ Weekly and New Scientist. Shares fell 19½p to 465p.

In a brief statement, the company said Smith, 55, had left by “mutual agreement” and would be replaced by Erik Engstrom, head of the scientific and medical publishing division Elsevier.

Chairman Anthony Habgood added: “Ian has had the difficult task of leading Reed Elsevier during unprecedentedly turbulent economic times.”

Engstrom will be paid £1million a year, more than Smith’s £900,000. Smith’s departure came as Reed Elsevier warned that profit margins were being squeezed by recession-hit revenues and increased investment, the impact being only “partially mitigated” by “restructuring and other cost actions”.

It is believed some investors were unhappy when new money was raised in August and by Smith’s ambitious growth plans for a company that had focused on steady improvement.

Smith was known for transforming companies when he was appointed earlier this year. He had steered builder Taylor Woodrow through a merger with rival George Wimpey.