Business

Cairn Homes chief saw total pay packet increase €800,000 last year

Counterpart at Glenveagh Properties saw package fall by more than €100,000 as revenues and pretax profits slip

Cairn Homes chief executive Michael Stanley's remuneration climbed to €1,936,000, up from €1,127,000. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Colin Gleeson
Tue Mar 26 2024 - 18:44

The chief executive of builder Cairn Homes saw his total remuneration increase by more than €800,000 last year, while his counterpart at peer group Glenveagh Properties saw his fall by more than €100,000, the companies’ annual reports show.

Cairn chief executive Michael Stanley’s remuneration climbed to €1,936,000, up from €1,127,000. The increase can largely be attributed to bonuses and pension contributions.

The group’s chief financial officer Shane Doherty made €1,715,000, which was unchanged from the year before.

The fee for group chairman John Reynolds was unchanged at €150,000. However, the company’s remuneration committee said his fee was last reviewed in 2017 and there has been “a clear increase in the time commitment involved in his role”.

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This included matters concerning “board effectiveness, shareholder and stakeholder engagement and sustainability. Following a review of the time commitments, and having employed external data as a reference point, the chairman’s fee was increased by 20 per cent, from €150,000 to €180,000. The committee is satisfied this revised fee accurately reflects the increase in his role and responsibilities and remains reasonable relative to market rates.”

Cairn also increased the pay of the base salaries of its wider staff who joined the business before June 30th, 2023, by 5 per cent, effective from January.

Neither of the executive directors was awarded the inflationary increase, “reflecting the company’s commitment not to increase Mr Stanley’s salary following the approval of his long-term incentive plan.

Mr Doherty said he would leave Cairn Homes last year. Ex-Urbeo and Hibernia Reit executive Richard Ball will replace him as chief financial officer next month.

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Elsewhere, the remuneration committee chairman/woman and nomination committee chairman/woman saw increases of 25 per cent in their fees from €12,000 to €15,000.

Revenues at Cairn Homes rose 8 per cent to €666.8 million last year as it delivered a record 1,741 new home sales. It also reported operating profit of €113.4 million, up 10.1 per cent from 2022.

Meanwhile, Glenveagh Properties chief executive Stephen Garvey saw his total remuneration fall from €1,614,801 to €1,509,595. The group’s chief financial officer Michael Rice also saw a drop, from €1,521,764 to €1,140,492.

Glenveagh Properties chief executive Stephen Garvey (right) and Michael Rice, chief financial officer. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Glenveagh chairman John Mulcahy was paid a fee of €205,000, which was unchanged.

Like Cairn, the company said it “remains cognisant of the impact of the ongoing inflationary environment on our workforce” and measures taken to address this resulted in an average increase of 5 per cent in workforce salaries for 2024.

The executive directors will receive base salary increases of 3 per cent in 2024, which the company said was “appropriate in the ongoing inflationary environment, and with regard to the fact that base salary levels remained unchanged in 2023″.

Following a review of the structure and fee levels for the non-executive directors, base fee levels will increase by €5,000 in 2024.

Glenveagh reported lower revenues and pretax profits for 2023 but said that underlying market demand for new homes continues to be very strong.

Revenues for the year fell by 6 per cent to €607.9 million from €644.7 million in 2022. Its pretax profits for the year fell by 13 per cent to €55.1 million from €63 million, but the company’s operating profits moved 1 per cent higher to €70.9 million from €70.1 million.

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter

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