O’Leary defends Ryanair’s board against criticism

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary yesterday defended the airline's board against criticism at the company's annual general meeting that long service threatens the independence of some of its non-executive directors.

The airline told investors yesterday that profit for its current financial year, which ends on March 31st, will be at the upper end of the €620 million to €650 million guidance it gave in August, depending on returns during the winter months, when it once again plans to cut prices aggressively to attract more passengers.

‘New blood’

Responding to criticism at the meeting of the fact that its board includes a number of long-serving non-executives, including chairman

David Bonderman

, who could not attend yesterday, Mr O’Leary, said it would be “insane” to let individuals with their experience go. “We have addressed those concerns by bringing in a lot of new blood in the last few years,” he added.

The questions were sparked by a recent call from proxy group, Pensions & Investment Research Consultants, to opposed the re-election of a number of non-executives, including Mr Bonderman and senior independent James Osborne, who have both served 18 years.

He justified Ryanair's decision to recruit former deputy chief executive Michael Cawley and outgoing head of finance Howard Millar as independent directors by warning that otherwise its rivals would snap them up.

Salary and bonuses

Shareholders elected Mr Cawley to the board yesterday with a majority of 98.3 per cent. Mr Millar will join it next year after he steps down from his current role in December. All existing directors were re-elected with 90 per cent-plus majorities, barring Mr Osborne, who had 88 per cent support.

Answering questions on his own pay, Mr O'Leary confirmed that he received a total of €1.8 million in salary and bonuses. He pointed out that this was less than one-third of what Easyjet chief executive Carolyn McCall received and less than half what International Airlines Group paid its boss, Willie Walsh, despite the fact that Ryanair flies more passengers than either rival.

Since last year's agm, Ryanair has beefed up customer service as part of a strategy aimed at attracting more passengers, particularly business travellers, to the airline. Following yesterday's meeting, chief marketing officer Kenny Jacobs said it is now getting about 4,000 business bookings a day.