Dilger’s pay up 50% to nearly €1m

GREENCORE chief executive David Dilger saw his pay rocket by 50% to nearly €1 million, the food company’s latest annual report has revealed.

Mr Dilger was paid a total of €966,000, up from the €646,000 he was paid the previous year.

The increase comes mainly from a rise in his annual performance bonus, which totalled €396,000. Mr Dilger was paid a basic salary of €504,000 and other fees and benefits of €66,000, according to the report.

Finance director Patrick Kennedy also saw a large rise in his pay packet, which increased from €361,000 to €628,000, and operations director Tony Hynes also took home a large pay rise, netting €572,000.

This was an increase in the €279,000 he was paid in 2002 and was made up of a €288,000 salary and a €234,000 bonus.

Overall, Greencore’s executive directors were paid a total of €2.72 million in 2003, up from €2.45m the previous year.

The company’s non-executive directors were paid €369,000 in fees, with chairman Ned Sullivan, the former Glanbia boss, receiving €111,000 of the total.

Other members of the board include Waterford Wedgwood chief executive Redmond O’Donoghue and Anglo Irish Bank head Sean Fitzpatrick.

Profits at Greencore were up from €11m to €39m for the year to end September 2003 on sales of €1.44 billion.

However, shareholders have not been rewarded with a generous rise in the dividend, which was held flat for another year.

“As outlined in the interim statement, since the acquisition of Hazlewood Foods in 2001, the board maintained, rather than increased, the level of the interim and final dividend.

“The aim was to reduce, as swiftly as possible, the indebtedness assumed to finance the acquisition,” Mr Sullivan said in the report.

Greencore shares have traded well, though, rising from €2.25 at the beginning of 2003 to close at €3.55.

There has been speculation in recent months that Greencore could be a takeover target after the financier Dermot Desmond raised his stake in the company to 22%.

Mr Desmond has been an investor in the company for some years and was instrumental in the ousting of the late chairman Bernie Cahill at the 2001 annual general meeting.

He has not commented publicly on what he intends to do with his stake, but few analysts expect Mr Desmond himself to make a bid.