Sherry Fitz pay day; boom time on pay for directors; and airlines greenwashing say Greenpeace

Mark FitzGerald is expected to get around €25 million for his 50 per cent shareholding in Ireland’s largest estate agency Sherry FitzGerald following its sale to CastleGate Investments, the investment fund controlled by eShopWorld founder Tommy Kelly, writes Ciarán Hancock.

Company directors got close to maximum bonuses last year as targets were lowered doe to the Covid pandemic, according to a boardroom survey by Korn Ferry. Colin Gleeson reports that pay at the upper echelons of Ireland’s top listed companies has increased significantly over the past five years but there is still room for improvement on gender diversity.

The seven biggest European airline groups are talking big on doing their bit for global warming but failing to take sufficient measures to reduce their carbon emissions in line with the Paris climate agreement, according to a Greenpeace report. Kevin O’Sullivan notes that Ryanair are ranked second-worst among the group that includes most of Europe’s big airlines.

Spanish energy group Iberdrola plans to pull the plug on its Irish electricity and gas supply businesses, hitting up to 32,000 homes. Customers will be automatically transferred to Electric Ireland or Bord Gáis Energy without interruption to supply, writes Barry O’Halloran.

And KBC Bank Ireland has said they will take no new applications for any of their products from July 15th. Joe Brennan has the details of what it means for people in the process of setting up mortgages with the departing lender.

Joe also reports that the governor of the Central Bank, Gabriel Makhlouf, has told the global funds industry, which has based portfolios holding more than ¤4 trillion of assets in the Republic, that it is only a matter of time before it faces strict resilience rules, similar to other areas of finance.

A plan for 300 homes in the south Dublin suburb of Monkstown has been shot down in the High Court over the failure to assess the impact it would have on the environment.

Plans for 464 homes in Cork and Limerick were given the go ahead by An Bord Pleanála but worries over otters and kingfishers saw a €40 million, 101-unit scheme in Oranmore knocked back. Gordon Deegan gas the details

Gordon also reports that the former Pallas Foods, now known as Sysco Foods Ireland, saw turnover slump 24 per cent last year as Covid continued to eat into the business of food distribution. Gordon Deegan reports.

Irish radio accounts for 12.6 per cent of the advertising market, according to figures from Radiocentre Ireland, which represents the sector. Laura Slattery writes that radio attracted €145.1 million in advertising last year, higher than earlier projections.

Bank of Ireland says that more than ¤500 million of clients’ money invested in a BNY Mellon fund is unaffected by a “greenwashing” finding against a US version of the fund and five other portfolios that resulted in a groundbreaking fine last week. Joe Brennan reports.

A shareholder in online insurance broker Quote Devil Ltd claims a €420,000 payment he received two years ago for most of his holding in the firm was an undervalue and that he should be entitled to €2.2 million following the firm’s takeover, The Commercial Court will decide.

Fresh from Davos, Martin Wolf outlines his 12 propositions on the current state of the world.

In Commercial Property, Ronald Quinlan writes that SMBC Aviation is looking at taking up the €7.7 million per annum lease vacated by Slack in Dublin’s Fitzwilliam 28 development following that company’s takeover by US group Salesforce.

And Grafton Street is gearing up for a raft of new retailers with numerous international brands vying for pitch in Dublin’s premier shopping area, writes Colliers’ retail division director Eoin Feeney.