Fyffes directors awarded €300k

Executive directors of fruit distributor Fyffes have been rewarded for the company’s good performance with a €300,000 incentive bonus.

The company’s 2011 annual report, published after the markets closed yesterday, reveals that while the three executive directors’ basic salaries remained largely unchanged at €927,000 for David McCann, €614,000 for Coen Bos and €497,900 for Tom Murphy, they received incentive payments not made in 2010.

On top of their basic salaries the directors received payments under a short-term incentive plan. David McCann benefited by €170,000, Mr Bos received an additional €102,000, and Mr Murphy was paid an extra €83,000.

Fyffes performed well in 2011 with the company reporting earnings growth of over 10% for 2011, with revenue for the year up by 14.5%.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation — excluding the group’s share in its property spin-off, Balmoral Land International — was improved by 10.1% at €29.6m. Revenue increased from €742.1m to €850m.

Pre-tax profits rose by nearly 4m — from just under €8.8m to nearly €12.5m. Last year also saw a 10% rise in diluted earnings per share to 6.05c, while the total dividend for 2011 amounts to 1.925c, 10% higher than the previous year.

Last year’s growth was aided by higher pricing and higher volumes for its main products — bananas and pineapples. It also came against a background of rising fuel costs.