O’Leary’s Ryanair bonus jumps 82.5% as pay packet soars past €1m

RYANAIR chief executive Michael O’Leary received an 82.5% increase in bonus payments last year bringing his total pay to just over €1 million.

In the airline’s annual report for 2011, Ryanair confirms that on top of his basic annual salary of €595,000, Mr O’Leary received bonus payments of €440,000 in the 12 months to the end of March, bringing his total remuneration for the year to €1.035m.

This follows Mr O’Leary receiving bonus payments of €241,000 the previous financial year along with his basic salary.

Mr O’Leary received the bonus increase in fiscal 2011 after he steered the airline to record a 23% increase in pre-tax profits to €420.9m on revenues of €3.62 billion by flying 72 million passengers in spite of disruptions caused by the ash cloud in 2010.

On Ryanair’s current market capitalisation of €5bn, Mr O’Leary’s current shareholding of 3.7% is worth €187m.

In July of last year, O’Leary pocketed €20m before tax when he sold 4.9 million of his shares reducing the number of shares he owns to 55m.

The annual report confirms that the aggregate amount of compensation paid by Ryanair to the eight sitting non-executive directors and nine executive officers during the 2011 fiscal year was €5.2m.

Former finance minister Charlie McCreevey is a non-executive director. Each of the company’s non-executive directors last year were entitled to €32,000 plus expenses.

The company’s annual report states that company chairman David Bonderman waived his entitlement to receive this remuneration in fiscal 2011.

Ryanair paid out a dividend of over €500m in the past year and in the airline’s annual report, Mr O’Leary writes: “As a capital intensive company in a very cyclical industry it would be wrong of shareholders to expect a continuous dividend stream.

“We intend to continue to build up cash, so that we can avail of opportunities, including aircraft purchases, or acquisitions that will enhance Ryanair’s profitability and our returns to shareholders.”

In his report, Mr O’Leary also confirmed that after two years of pay freezes the company implemented a pay increase of 2% in April, subject to performance, across most grades.

In his report, Mr Bonderman states: “The year ahead will be challenging as we face rising fuel prices and the continuing impact of recession, austerity measures, and falling European confidence.

“Ryanair is well-positioned to cope with these potential headwinds as slowing growth will enhance yields and our fuel is well hedged, albeit at higher prices.”

Ryanair intends to ground 80 aircraft this winter after 40 were grounded last year.