Kingspan CEO Murtagh's pay jumps to €5.7m

Total combined remuneration for company's five executive directors jumped nearly €5m to just under €15.6m last year

Kingspan chief executive Gene Murtagh saw his total pay packet balloon by nearly 75% on the back of the company’s strong financial performance.

Kingspan chief executive Gene Murtagh saw his total pay packet balloon by nearly 75% to €5.74m last year on the back of the company’s strong financial performance.

The Cavan-headquartered international building insulation group’s newly published annual report shows Mr Murtagh’s total remuneration topped €5.7m after amounting to just under €3.3m in 2020.

Mr Murtagh’s basic salary remained unchanged at €888,000, but his total package surged due to bonus payments and share option rewards.

The total combined remuneration for Kingspan's five executive directors jumped nearly €5m to just under €15.6m last year, the annual report shows.

Return to acquisition trail

The publication of Kingspan’s annual report comes a week after the group reported a strong set of financial results for 2021 and announced a significant flexing of its financial muscle with a return to the acquisition trail.

Kingspan last week reported a near 50% increase in trading profit, to €755m, for 2021, with revenues surging by 42% to just under €6.5bn. The group finished last year with an after-tax profit of €571m, which was 48% ahead of the previous year.

On top of that, the Cavan group said it had agreed to buy French roofing business Ondura Group from French private equity house Naxicap Capital Partners and other owners for €550m.

Kingspan shares, down nearly 4% in latest trading, have continued to lag, however, suggesting some lingering investor damage from the company’s links to the fatal Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017, where some of its product was used without the company’s knowledge in an unsafe construction.