Musgrave is a private company and intends to remain so, chairman Mr Hugh Mackeown has repeated. However, the Musgrave chief has called on the Government to amend the legislation relating to Capital Acquisitions Tax and Capital Gains Tax to allow the group expand the shareholding base by passing shares down through generations of the controlling Musgrave family.

Just over three quarters of Musgrave shares are owned by 50 members of the extended Musgrave family spread over five generations, while 19 per cent of the shares are held by 820 of the group's employees, said Mr Mackeown. He said, however, that current CAT and CGT legislation presents a major problem in passing shares down through generations of the family.

"The legislation has not decided whether Irish-owned private companies should survive and prosper or whether they should just be taken over. I don't think the effects of the current tax legislation on companies like us were taken into account when the legislation was framed," he stated.

"If you can't continue as a private company because of CGT or CAT, then you either have to sell out to a multinational - and that would be a great pity and we have no wish or intention of doing so - or you float," he said, adding that he hoped that the Minister for Finance would look at the CAT issue in the context of next year's Finance Act.

Mr Mackeown was once again decidedly hostile to the idea of a stock market flotation. "Small companies are not getting an easy ride on the market, European stock markets are getting together without Dublin being involved so the prospects for a small stock market aren't good. A relatively small company like us wouldn't command a premium price on the stock market and if you do go the plc route, you're likely to be taken over because the price is cheap," Mr Mackeown stated.

Last year, the various Musgrave shareholders - family, staff and directors - shared more than £5 million (#6.35 million) in dividends, up from £4 million the previous year. It is thought that the large increase in the dividend is partly due to the tax cost of passing Musgrave shares down from one family member to another.

The 50 family members received an average of £76,000 each in dividends, while the 820 Musgrave staff, who own 19 per cent of the company, received an average dividend of £1,160.