Four Kerry Group bosses paid €5.2m

KERRY Group’s top four executives were rewarded by a combined pay and pension package totalling €5.2 million in 2010 the annual report for last year shows.

That figures compares with the €4.9m in 2009 and reflects a very good performance by the group last year as turnover, margins and profits were well ahead of the previous year.

Chief executive Stan McCarthy was paid €2.1m (2009: €1.75m) with a performance-related bonus of over €1m making up the largest part of his remuneration for the year.

His basic pay came to €810,000 while he got a pension contribution of €182,000 and benefits in kind of €62,000.

Brain Mehigan, the group’s chief financial officer, was paid just over €1m including €460,000 basic pay and a performance payment of €441,000. Flor Healy, chief executive of Kerry Foods, got €975,000 (2009: €1m) for the year.

Of the top four executives in the group Healy’s pay was the only one to come inunder €1m. He received a basic of €500, 000 and a performance award of €384,000 and other benefits.

The fourth top executive in the Kerry team is Gerry Behan, head of the group’s US ingredients and flavours division, which accounts for a substantial part of total group sales and earnings.

Mr Behan was awarded with total remuneration of €1.16m against €1.13m in 2009. His salary came in at €485,000 topped up with a bonus of €549,000.

Group chairman Denis Buckley received €209,000 (unchanged) while the non- executive directors total remuneration was €791,000 — up slightly on 2009.

Stan McCarthy said the group aimed to build on the strong performance in 2010. Allowing for the challenges posed by significant increase in raw materials and input costs, “we expect that Kerry will achieve good profitable growth in the year ahead”.

Its market strategy and technologies continue to “enhance the group’s reputation with key customer accounts and strengthen global customer alliances,” he said.

“The group has made a good start to 2011 and, taking into account the phasing of raw material cost recovery and exchange rate variability, we expect to achieve full year growth in adjusted earnings per share within a range of 210c to 218c per share (2010: 194.5c),” he said.