Mystery as BAE 長，指導者 やめるs

By Malcolm Withers
Updated: 00:00 BST, 26 March 2002

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JOHN WESTON, 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある of Britain's biggest 製造業者 and 輸出業者 BAE Systems, stunned the City by quitting today without explanation. He leaves with a contractual 支払う／賃金-off of a year's salary of £619,000 にもかかわらず company （人命などを）奪う，主張するs that there had been no boardroom 破産した／（警察が）手入れする-up.

However, BAE could 申し込む／申し出 no other 推論する／理由 for the sudden 出発 of one of Britain's most 尊敬（する）・点d industrialists other than that he would be 追求するing 'other 利益／興味s'. His move wiped £488m off the 株 price of the 航空宇宙学 and defence 巨大（な）, with a 16p 落ちる to 330p.

Today, both the City and BAE 従業員s were 推測するing about the 50-year-old's sudden move. Some say it may have been 予定 to a 衝突／不一致 with chairman Sir Richard Evans or other board members. Others say he went because of his 堅固に-held プロの／賛成の-European 見解（をとる）s. Everyone agreed that the タイミング of his 出発 was both 'surprising and unusual'.

最近の US institutional buying of BAE 株 has taken foreign 所有権 to 48% of the 公正，普通株主権. Today the 政府 relaxes the 49.5% foreign 所有権 支配する that could lead to BAE becoming an essentially US company. Its biggest 顧客 is now the US 政府. Some 分析家s believe this may have been the catalyst for Weston's 出発, although BAE 否定するd it.

Weston goes with a 年金 entitlement of £235,000 and 選択s on 1.2m BAE 株, some of which have already been realised. He is 後継するd by 53-year-old Michael Turner, 長，指導者 operating officer.

Weston's 出発 was 発表するd as BAE 問題／発行するd a 声明 説 that 貿易（する）ing remained in line with its 予測s last month when it 報告（する）／憶測d a 落ちる in pre-税金 利益（をあげる）s to £70m from £179m in the year to December 2001. Weston …を伴ってd the updated 貿易（する）ing 声明 by 説: 'I have decided to look for fresh challenges in new fields.' BAE (n)役員／(a)執行力のあるs were as surprised as the City by his 出発, though they were anxious to 強調 that there were no '黒人／ボイコット 穴を開けるs' or 'スキャンダルs'.

Weston climbed to the 最高の，を越す of BAE by working through a succession of companies that 結局 formed the 巨大（な） 航空宇宙学 and defence group. He joined the British 航空機 会社／団体 in January 1970, having 卒業生（する）d as an engineer from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, with a first-class degree.