At yesterday's Annual General Meeting, shareholders heard that FirstFoot.com enjoyed another bumper year with revenues up by 240%.

Happy employees congratulate the FirstFoot board on another outstanding financial result

However, it was not all sun and roses. The Chairman's Report revealed that a cost reduction programme was introduced in the second quarter of the financial year to curb soaring costs that were threatening the financial viability of the company.

A downsizing programme was implemented that affected all staff below Director level and 300 non-essential workers were made redundant. Additionally, the staff pension scheme was closed for all non-Directorial staff and a remuneration policy introduced to cut all non-Directorial salaries to the minimum legal wage.

The call centre was relocated to Mumbai which meant that headcount was reduced by a further 280.

The staff canteen was closed and staff benefits such as healthcare and additional maternity leave were curtailed. The working week has been extended to the 68 hours maximum allowed under EU legislation.

Dividends to shareholders were suspended and supplier terms and conditions renegotiated. The average time to settle invoices is now 236 days.

To demonstrate solidarity with the workforce, the Directors also agreed to close the executive dining room on the last Sunday of each month.

As a result of these measures the total manpower cost has been reduced from £32.6m to £2.4m. Dividend and invoice arrangements have saved a further £14m.

The Executive Compensation Committee has recognised the performance of board members. They approved an additional executive package for Ms. Fittie FirstFoot, Chief Operating Officer (COO). Ms. FirstFoot was awarded a salary increase of £23.3m and a pension contribution of £42.4m in recognition of her “outstanding contribution to the Indian call centre industry.”

Further executive disbursements were approved by the Executive Compensation Committee. The total cost of these was stated as being £127m.

The shareholders heard that although significant revenue increases had been achieved and current annual turnover was £38.24, the additional costs incurred by the company would mean that there would be a further review of operations and that the Board of Directors could not rule out further job cuts.

Ms. FirstFoot wished to place on record the outstanding contribution of riot police to subdue dissatisfied ex-employees and promised a contribution of £1.2m to the Distressed Policepersons' Early Retirement Fund.

The board has also put £6.4m into a reserve fund to fight a lawsuit raised by a "deranged" Canadian accountant.