Kingspan pays executive directors over €9m after personnel changes at group

The Cavan-headquartered building materials group Kingspan paid its executive directors a combined €9.4m last year — nearly €4m more than in 2010.

However, this was more to do with a number of one-off accounting events rather than a wholesale rise in pay for the insulation products specialist’s managers.

Two of the main reasons for the remuneration rise were that Kingspan changed chief financial officer during the year, with Dermot Mulvihill and Geoff Doherty, his replacement, receiving significant salaries.

Mr Doherty received share option compensation after foregoing options from his previous company, Greencore. There were also termination payments for outgoing directors Noel Crowe and Mr Mulvihill totalling €201,000 and €400,000 respectively.

The total remuneration packages of Mr Mulvihill and Mr Doherty amounted to €1.1m and €1.13m respectively.

In terms of basic salaries and performance-related bonuses, 2011’s figures were largely unchanged.

Kingspan chief executive Gene Murtagh received a basic pay of €635,000 and a bonus of the same amount last year, unchanged from 2010 levels. Other allow-ances and pension contributions brought his total remuneration to €1.39m, much the same as in 2010.

Kingspan’s latest annual report tops off a successful 2011 for the company, which saw the group boost pre-tax profits by over €20m to just under €78m and grow overall revenues by 30% to €1.55bn. Shareholders also got a boost, with last year’s dividend being upped by 10% to 11c per share.

The first half of 2010, meanwhile, saw Kingspan generate its first operating profit for three years.

Last year saw mainland Europe increasingly become Kingspan’s most important geographical region — contributing 38% of group revenue, only 1% less than the British market.

The company has said in recent times that it would like to strengthen its presence in the likes of Germany and the emerging BRIC nations.