The former boss of cider and beer group C&C saw his pay balloon by 68% last year, to almost €3m, after pocketing a contract termination payment of almost €700,000.

Shares in cider and beer maker C&C jumped by just over 4% despite the Irish drinks group taking a near €48m hit from the Covid-19 disruption, writing down the value of its US operations by over €34m and saying it is burning through €7m of cash per month.