Karen Banton was speaking outside the NSW Supreme Court on Monday after Justice Ian Gzell imposed penalties ranging from fines of $30,000 for seven former non-executive directors to $350,000 for the company's former chief executive, Peter Macdonald.

The former non-executive directors of the asbestos manufacturer were also disqualified from holding boardroom positions for five years while Mr Macdonald was disqualified from managing companies for 15 years. The company itself was fined $80,000. The fines, for breaches of the Corporations Act, totalled $750,000. Mrs Banton said while she would have liked the fines to be ``a lot higher'' she was ``very satisfied with the disqualifications''.

Mr Banton died from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in November 2007 at age61.

A confidential compensation payout was settled just days before his death. It was the first claim to be settled from the $4billion James Hardie compensation fund. Mr Banton was employed by former James Hardie subsidiary Amaca at its Camellia factory, from 1968 to 1974. A meeting of James Hardie shareholders in Australia last Tuesday was told of a stronger-than-expected profit in the company's US operations. At the meeting company chairman Michael Hammes expressed confidence in the resumption of payments to the compensation fund by mid-next year.