ICG boss gets 40% pay rise after strong year for shipping group

Irish Continental Group chief executive Eamonn Rothwell remuneration package rose by 40 per cent in 2015, a year in which the shipowner surpassed the €1 billion mark in market capitalisation for the first time.

The Irish Ferries owner, which awarded shares worth more than €1 million to Mr Rothwell as part of the firm's restricted share plan in early December, reported full-year revenues that rose 10 per cent to €320.6 million last year.

The group’s annual report, published on Wednesday, shows Mr Rothwell received a total remuneration package of €2.21 million for 2015, up from €1.58 million a year earlier.

Mr Rothwell, who owns 14.7 per cent of the shipping group, received €513,000 in basic pay last year, up from €500,000 in 2014. He also received €1.6 million in performance-related remuneration, up from €914,000, a pension contributionof €63,000, down from €133,000, and benefits amounting to €36,000.

ICG said directors’ remuneration for 2015 totalled €2.6 million, as against €2.7 million in 2014 and €2.4 million in 2013. Performance awards for the year, which largely consisted of restricted share awards, totalled €1.6 million, as against €1.2 million a year earlier.

Finance director Gearoid O’Dea, who retired in May, received a total remuneration package of €162,000, down from €585,000 a year earlier. He received €120,000 in basic pay, down from €283,000 in 2014. Mr O’Dea also received a pension contribution amounting to €36,000.

Marketing director Tony O’Kelly, who also retired early last year, received a total remuneration package of €59,000, down from €385,000 in 2014.

Remuneration for non-executive directors, which include chairman John McGuckian, Catherine Duffy, Brian O'Kelly and John Sheehan, totalled €200.000, unchanged from a year earlier.

Shares in ICG rose by more than 60 per cent in 2015.