The former boss of EMI's music division quit the troubled group with a £3.6m (€5.32m) pay-off, it was revealed today.

Alain Levy earned more than £3.5m (€5.3m) in pay and bonuses last year as chairman and chief executive of EMI Music – a job held since October 2001.

Moves by EMI to slash costs paid off today after the music group returned to profitability despite a further slide in sales.

UK airline British Airways is poised to be booted out of the prestigious FTSE 100 Index in next week’s reshuffle.