Anglo Irish directors make €9m

Five directors in Anglo Irish Bank have shared a paper profit of some €9 million by exercising share options in the company.

The five directors, all of whom are executives, each exercised the options at €2.36 on Tuesday, when shares closed at €9.35.

The stock hit an all-time high of €9.50 yesterday, amid strongly positive sentiment for the Irish financial sector as a whole.

Anglo Irish chief executive Mr Seán FitzPatrick realised the most substantial paper profit on the options, making €2.2 million when he bought 312,500 shares for €737,500.

Mr FitzPatrick, who now holds just over 1 per cent of the bank's shares, is widely credited for leading Anglo Irish through a period of solid growth over the past few years. He drew a salary package of €1.9 million from the company in 2002. The bank, which posted pre-tax profits of €154.5 million for the six months to the end of March, has seen its share price soar by more than 150 per cent since the start of 2002.

Known historically as a business bank, Anglo Irish has recently concentrated on developing its presence within the personal finance market.

The company frequently features among analysts' most- favoured Irish stocks, with commentators considering that it retains the potential for considerable revenue growth.

Mr FitzPatrick was joined in the share purchase by Anglo Irish's finance director, Mr Willie McAteer, who exercised 237,500 options for €560,500 and made a paper profit of €1.69 million on the transaction. The three remaining executive directors recorded the same return by exercising the same number of options. They were: chief operating officer Mr Tiarnan O'Mahoney; UK managing director Mr John Rowan; and Mr Peter Killen, who has responsibility for group risk management.