McGann joins ranks of Ireland’s top-paid non-executives

Paddy Power Betfair will pay chairman Gary McGann €450,000 this year, making him one of the best-paid non-executives at an Irish plc.

Mr McGann took over as chairman of the €10 billion betting group when it was formed through a merger of Paddy Power and Betfair in February. Its annual report shows that Paddy Power Betfair has agreed to pay him €450,000 in fees this year.

The deal ranks behind the €575,000 Irish building materials multinational CRH pays its chairman Nicky Hartery, and the €490,000 Bank of Ireland pays its governor, Archie Kane. However, it is ahead of the €365,000 AIB pays its chairman Richard Pym and the €180,000 Permanent TSB chairman Alan Cook receives.

Paddy Power Betfair said yesterday that its board’s remuneration committee had approved Mr McGann’s fees and that it is compared with international companies of similar scale and complexity.

The group was worth €9.9 billion at its closing price of €118.35 on the Irish Stock Exchange yesterday. CRH was worth €21.15 billion. Both companies are headquartered in the Republic, have primary listings on the London Stock Exchange and secondary quotes in Dublin.

CRH has manufacturing and distribution businesses across Europe and the US. Paddy Power has betting and gaming operations in Ireland, Britain, Australia, Bulgaria, France, Italy and the US.

Smurfit Kappa

Liam O’Mahony, chairman of packaging group, Smurfit Kappa, where Mr McGann was chief executive until the end of last August, received €300,000 last year. Mr O’Mahony was chief executive of CRH up to 2008.

Smurfit was worth €5.6 billion at the close of business yesterday. It has operations across Europe and the Americas.

Ryanair, which was worth €17 billion yesterday and is Europe's biggest airline, pays its chairman, David Bonderman, €100,000 a year.

However, its current annual report, for the 12 months ended March 31st 2015, states that he waived this entitlement up to its 2014 financial year. He owns 7.7 million shares in the company.

As a result he received a share of last year’s €398 million special dividend that Ryanair paid to investors following the sale of its stake in Aer Lingus.