Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has raised €39 million from the sale of six million shares in the low-cost airline yesterday.

Following the sale, Mr O'Leary's stake in the company will fall to 4.6 per cent from 5.4 per cent. However, he remains the largest individual shareholder in the company with around 35 million shares.

The stock, which was sold at €6.50 per share, was placed by Davy Stockbrokers with a number of international institutional investors.

Dealers said there was good demand for the shares with the placing oversubscribed. However, the stock gave up some ground in the wake of the transaction to close at €6.54 last night, down 1.8 per cent on the day.

Since the airline floated in 1997, Mr O'Leary has been a regular seller, raising millions from his annual summer share sales as he has steadily reduced his shareholding.

The Ryanair chief executive last sold shares in 2003 when he and non-executive director Declan Ryan raised nearly €24 million apiece from the sale of stock.

He chose not to sell last summer, however, as the share price languished below €5.00, a level at which he said he was not prepared to sell his stock.

Despite continued oil price volatility, the shares have rebounded this year, hitting a 16-month peak of €6.75 on Monday. Just last week, the airline released a bumper set of full-year results showing a 19 per cent increase in both profits and passengers numbers for the year ended March.

However, although Ryanair believes it can deliver a 10 per cent increase in net income to €295 million in the current financial year while raising passenger numbers by 27 per cent to 35 million, others are more cautious about the stock.

ABN Amro cut its recommendation on Ryanair to "reduce" from "add" yesterday while setting a share price target of €6.30 for the stock, below its current level.