Irish Life & Permanent chairman-elect Mr Roy Douglas has increased his shareholding in the group by 60,000 shares and has made a paper profit of £544,000 in the process. Mr Douglas bought 75,000 shares at an option price of 180p at a total cost of £135,000 but covered this by selling 15,000 shares into the market at prices of €11.40 to €11.60 (£8.98 to £9.14). The 60,000 shares he has retained are worth £544,000 (€690,000).

Following the transactions, Mr Douglas holds 306,027 shares worth €3.5 million (£2.8 million).