BUSINESSMAN SEAN Quinn has said that recent stock market investments, primarily in Anglo Irish Bank, were "clearly ill-timed, costly and are very much regretted", but said that his family's combined shareholding in the bank remained at 15 per cent, writes Simon Carswell, Finance Correspondent.

In a notice to staff and customers of his overall holding company, Quinn Group, posted on its website yesterday evening, Mr Quinn said the group was restructuring its board and the board of its insurance subsidiary, Quinn Insurance, "to resemble more closely that of a public company".

Responding to negative criticism of his family's stock market investments, Mr Quinn said: "For 2008, the maximum possible negative impact of Quinn family investments on the group results will be €130 million, with no further impact whatsoever thereafter."

Quinn Group wrote off €829 million on equity investments, primarily in Anglo, in its 2007 accounts, leaving the group with a pretax loss of €425 million. Mr Quinn said the investments, made outside the Quinn Group over two years, were "clearly a mistake".

The family invested well in excess of €1 billion in Anglo. The stake is worth €29 million.

Mr Quinn said the group has and will "comfortably generate cash profits of between €400 million and €500 million before exceptional items" in each of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 trading periods. He said Quinn Insurance has assets of €2.1 billion, with over €900 million in cash and bonds.

The group has budgeted for a 40 per cent fall in demand for cement and concrete products in 2009. He said other divisions such as glass-making will "more than make up any shortfall in profits".

Mr Quinn resigned from the board of his insurance company in October for failing to notify the financial regulator about loans of €288 million to other Quinn firms for stock market investments.