Grafton directors get 27% pay hike

THE directors of building materials and DIY group Grafton received a 27% pay hike last year.

The company’s annual report for 2004 reveals the seven directors were paid €3.79 million, up from €2.9m the previous year.

Grafton last month reported a 29% rise in profits to €132 million on sales up 25% to €1.9 billion, driven by its British builders’ merchants business.

According to the annual report executive chairman Michael Chadwick was paid a total of €774,000, up from €712,000 in 2003. Mr Chadwick was paid a basic salary of €439,000 and a performance bonus of €298,000. He also received other benefits of €37,000.

Mr Chadwick is the largest individual shareholder in the company with an 8.1% stake.

Finance director Colm O’Nuallain got a €51,000 pay rise to €618,000, while Fergus Malone, who runs the company’s manufacturing division, saw his pay rise by €11,000 to €410,000.

The report also disclosed that Norman Kilroy, the former managing director, and now a non-executive director, was paid €75,000 in fees.

Solicitor Anthony Collins was paid €50,000 in fees and an additional payment of €79,000 for other work for the company.

Richard Jewson, another non-executive director, received €50,000 in fees, while Gillian Bowler, the Irish Life & Permanent chairman, received €40,000.

The annual report also says that €1.7 million was pumped into the directors’ pension funds compared to €806,000 the previous year. The report did not give a breakdown of the contributions to the directors’ pension funds.