The four owners of MG Rover made further gains from the former finance arm of Britain's last-remaining mass car maker, stoking controversy over the amounts they pay themselves.
The Birmingham businessmen - John Towers, Peter Beale, John Edwards and Nick Stephenson - have been paid another £100,000 (€150,000) each by the company they set up to take on the leasing business of the lossmaking firm. They stand to make another €2.6 million each when it is wound up, probably next year.
The returns are higher than the €1.5 million expected for each of the men, who bought Rover in 2000 for £10 from BMW. According to returns filed by MGR Capital - the leasing joint venture between the four men and HBOS, the bank - they were given a 20 per cent annual dividend last year on their £500,000 investment in preference shares.
Figures for 2002 reveal they were paid an average of £350,000 (€525,000) by Phoenix Venture Holdings, through which they control Rover, and given a controversial £12.95m (€19.4m) trust fund. The company lost £97.5m (€146m) at the operating level.
Mr Beale argued in an interview with the Financial Times that they were doing Rover a service by buying the book of 58,000 finance customers, who took out their contracts under BMW ownership.
On Monday a spokeswoman for Rover said the car maker was pleased to gain control over the cars coming to the end of leases, so second-hand values could be protected.