Current Account, showing his age, remembers well an IMI conference when Michael Smurfit - who at the time headed the biggest company on the Irish market - came out with his famous "equity is blood" comment.

Never would a Smurfit sell the shares, was the message from Michael. That would be like selling the family silver.

Mind you, back then Smurfit shares had a much greater lustre than they do now.

The family might think that equity is blood but clearly non-executive director Peter Gleeson does not have the same sentimental attachment for shares that now carry far less value than they did in the halcyon days of the late 1980s when cardboard was apparently king and Smurfit was able to preen itself as the Republic's most valuable company.

Gleeson this week took the opportunity to sell about a 10th of his holding - some 1.5 million shares - and pocketed €3.7 million in the process.

Markets don't tend to like directors offloading large bundles of shares and it hardly represents a vote of confidence in the shares.

While on the subject of Smurfit, Gary McGann had a mixed message at a presentation at ABN-Amro this week. One message was that Smurfit is acutely aware of the issues surrounding Smurfit Stone and the impact SSCC's associate status has on its valuation.

ABN-Amro believes a possible solution is imminent with two alternative moves - spin off the SSCC stake or allow SSCC do a reverse takeover of the group.