FTSE 100 CEOs take 4 million pound share hit

LONDON (Reuters) - Chief executives of firms in the benchmark FTSE 100 share index each lost 4 million pounds on average on the value of their company holdings last year, U.K. fund manager Heartwood Wealth Management said on Monday.

Tumbling share prices cut the value of FTSE 100 CEOs' stakes by an average of 2 million pounds in the first half of 2008 and by a further 2.2 million pounds in the final six months of the year, Heartwood said.

That reduced the average value of their holdings to 8.96 million pounds by the end of 2008, down from 11.1 million puonds a year earlier.

The decline brought an abrupt halt to an unbroken five-year period of growth during which the average value of FTSE 100 CEOs' holdings rose nearly fourfold, Heartwood added.

(Reporting by Myles Neligan; Editing by David Cowell)