ICG boss gets 40% pay rise after strong year for shipping group

Increase comes after company surpassed €1 billion mark in market capitalisation

ICG chief executive Eamonn Rothwell owns 14.7 per cent of the shipping group
ICG chief executive Eamonn Rothwell owns 14.7 per cent of the shipping group

Irish Continental Group chief executive Eamonn Rothwell remuneration package rose by 40 per cent in 2015, a year in which the shipowner surpassed the €1 billion mark in market capitalisation for the first time.

The Irish Ferries owner, which awarded shares worth more than €1 million to Mr Rothwell as part of the firm's restricted share plan in early December, reported full-year revenues that rose 10 per cent to €320.6 million last year.

The group’s annual report, published on Wednesday, shows Mr Rothwell received a total remuneration package of €2.21 million for 2015, up from €1.58 million a year earlier.

Mr Rothwell, who owns 14.7 per cent of the shipping group, received €513,000 in basic pay last year, up from €500,000 in 2014. He also received €1.6 million in performance-related remuneration, up from €914,000, a pension contributionof €63,000, down from €133,000, and benefits amounting to €36,000.

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ICG said directors’ remuneration for 2015 totalled €2.6 million, as against €2.7 million in 2014 and €2.4 million in 2013. Performance awards for the year, which largely consisted of restricted share awards, totalled €1.6 million, as against €1.2 million a year earlier.

Finance director Gearoid O’Dea, who retired in May, received a total remuneration package of €162,000, down from €585,000 a year earlier. He received €120,000 in basic pay, down from €283,000 in 2014. Mr O’Dea also received a pension contribution amounting to €36,000.

Marketing director Tony O’Kelly, who also retired early last year, received a total remuneration package of €59,000, down from €385,000 in 2014.

Remuneration for non-executive directors, which include chairman John McGuckian, Catherine Duffy, Brian O'Kelly and John Sheehan, totalled €200.000, unchanged from a year earlier.

Shares in ICG rose by more than 60 per cent in 2015.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist