IAWS chief joins top-earners list

IAWS chief executive Owen Killian has joined the growing list of top bosses earning more than €1 million a year.

Mr Killian, who took over as chief executive of the food and agriculture group in October 2003, was paid a total of €1.12m in the year to end September, the company’s latest annual report reveals. He was paid €996,000 in the previous 12 month period.

The report shows Mr Killian was paid a basic salary of €519,000, performance bonus of €400,000 and pension contributions/benefit-in-kind of nearly €200,000.

Mr Killian’s bumper pay packet brings him entry to the millionaires’ club of Irish bosses. Other chief executives earning more than €1m a year include the bosses of CRH, AIB, Anglo Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Irish Life & Permanent and Independent News & Media.

But Mr Killian has some way to go before his pay packet rivals that of Liam O’Mahony. The veteran CRH chief executive pocketed €3.5m last year.

Total pay for the company’s directors was €3.2m in the year, up from €2.5m in 2004.

After Mr Killian, chief operating officer Hugo Kane was the next highest paid director, with a total pay package of €613,000.

No comparison with the previous year is available as Mr Kane only joined the executive management team in September 2004.

Patrick McEniff, the 37-year-old finance chief, netted €596,000, the report shows. Again no comparison could be made with the 2004 report as Mr McEniff joined the board at the beginning of the 2005 financial year.

Philip Lynch, the long-serving chief executive who stepped aside in 2003, received €300,000 in fees for his part-time role as a non-executive director.

This is a €50,000 increase on the previous year.

IAWS chairman Denis Lucey was paid €40,000 in fees. The other non-executive directors, who include stockbroker Brian Davy, Kerry Group chairman

Denis Buckley, ex-Glanbia chief executive William Murphy and former IAWS finance director David Martin also received €40,000.

IAWS recorded a 14% rise in pre-tax profits to €111m in the year to end September on sales 10% higher at €1.4 billion.

Shares in the company closed at €12.20 yesterday. They have advanced by just under 3% this year.