Irish Press plc is attempting to track down US stockholders entitled to their share of €346,000 in dividends paid to shareholders since 2002.
The former newspaper publisher's managing director, Dr Eamon de Valera, said yesterday that dividends paid by the company to Irish Press Corporation (IPC) in the US, were being held on trust for IPC shareholders.
Holders of "A" shares, a specific class of stock in IPC, are ultimately entitled to the dividends. However, as the original investments were made in 1930, the company says it has lost track of a large number of people who hold the shares.
"The American corporation is doing an exercise to update its records and seek out more 'A' stockholders," Dr de Valera said yesterday. The Irish Press Group paid out €130,000 in dividends to shareholders last year and €216,000 the year before, a total of €346,000. US holders of "A" shares in IPC are entitled to a share of this cash.
When former taoiseach and Fianna Fáil founder Mr Eamonn de Valera established the company, he sold the "A" shares in the Delaware-registered IPC to US-based investors, who were mainly Irish and Irish-American.
He used the money to set up the Irish Press Ltd in the then Free State. He was a shareholder in the Irish company through his ownership of "B" shares in IPC.
Dr de Valera explained yesterday that IPC and its "A" stockholders are the ultimate beneficiaries of its stake in Irish Press plc. The "B" stockholders hold the assets on trust for the US company and its "A" stockholders.
