Eircom Lotto winners cash in

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

There was no winner to last Saturday's lotto, however for the directors of Eircom and some of its largest shareholders, it was one weekend they didn't have to worry about quick picks. They took home lotto-like payoffs as Eircom, the former state-owned, then public, then private company, returned to the stock market.

€1.55 was the launch price per share and it held up well under the early trading as 180 million shares changed hands on the first day back on stock exchanges in Dublin and London.

Eircom's four executive directors sold shares worth €1.7 million and still have at current prices another €5.2 million between them to sell when the moment is right. This too is in reality just a bonus payment for Phillip Nolan, Peter Lynch, Cathal Magee and David McRedmond. The four have earned €29 million from Eircom over the past 30 months, not quite a million euro a month, but the free shares they received as part of the floatation should top it off nicely.

Also cashing in were two other Eircom directors, Con Scanlon and John Conroy, who were given shares as part of the floatation. Scanlon is the General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union and chairperson of the Eircom workers' Employee Share Ownership Trust (ESOT), which owns 30% of the company.

Scanlon and Conroy were given shares as part of the new floatation. Scanlon has a full-time salary as CWU General Secretary. Being on the Eircom board adds to Scanlon's salary, he earns €106,000 in director's fees and was given shares worth approximately €580,000. He sold €219,000-worth last week. Scanlon will also benefit from pension paymentsof €1 million over the next ten years and a lump sum retirement payment of €230,000.

John Conroy, who is the ESOT board nominee, received over €200,000 in shares. He sold €73,000-worth of shares and is holding onto another €119,000.

This, though, pales when you consider the gains made by Tony O'Reilly as part of the Valentia Consortium who bought Eircom. O'Reilly invested €25 million of his own funds in the company. He received a dividend of €10 million and now has shares worth €43 million.

It seems that on the Eircom board, few directors will feel the need to fill out a lotto slip for a while.