The Sunday Independent reports that Liam O'Mahony, the CRH CEO, has lined himself up for a super payday that should make him the best paid Irish executive of a listed company - by a mile. According to the annual report released last week, the CEO will see a five-year incentive plan kick in which will see him pocket a bonus of €1.44m, on top of his salary and perks.
When he receives the promised bonus it should mean he will be able to boast total pay in excess of €3.5m in 2005.
And his special bonus scheme will continue for another two years bringing him up to the age of 60 when he will retire - probably.
The Sunday Independent also reports that analysts were profoundly disappointed last week with the rather low-key response by the senior Elan management to the latest body-blow to its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. They reckoned Elan executives have run out of reassuring words as the share price tanked for the second time in a month.
However, in an attempt to recover some composure at the weekend an Elan spokeswoman insisted that thescience involved needs to be understood.
She said the company was unlikely to take any initiatives before the end of this month when Elan is due to declare its first quarter figures. Only then will it detail its response to its newest crisis.
In the meantime, Elan is insisting it's still committed to Tysabri, as is its partner, Biogen Idec. A Biogen spokesman, Jose Juves said at the weekend that the US company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "wasn't giving up on Tysabri and would spend the next several months studying the results of a 3,000-patient trial".
The spokeswoman for Elan in Dublin emphasised that the Irish company was also still committed to the drug, even if, in many respects, "the future of Tysabri was in the hands of the regulators".
At the end of February the companies abruptly pulled Tysabri off the market after a patient died of a rare nerve disorder while taking the drug in combination with Avonex, Biogen's older multiple sclerosis treatment.
A few days later, the companies said another patient taking the drug combination had developed the same illness, progressive multifocalleukoencephalopathy.
Then, last Wednesday, the companies said that a patient who died in 2003 developed the disorder while taking Tysabri.
The shattered image of Elan has been the big preoccupation of investors in Ireland but the impact on its larger partner, Biogen has been very significant too.
The office of the Revenue Commissioners is taking legal action against a Football Association of Ireland (FAI) company, relating to the payment of about €500,000 in Vat associated with the development of the doomed Eircom Park stadium, according to the Sunday Independent.
The Sunday Business Post reports that Eircom is in advanced talks to buy mobile phone operator Meteor for up to $400 million (€308 million), a price at the lower end of expectations.
The talks between Eircom and Western Wireless, Meteor's parent company in Seattle, are believed to have reached a crunch stage with a significant gap in valuations existing between the two sides.
A spokesman for Eircom said the company had no comment to make.
Acquiring Meteor, which has an estimated 340,000 customers, would see Eircom reenter the mobile phone market. It sold Eircell to Vodafone for €4.3 billion in 2001.
Meteor would give Eircom a 9 per cent market share in one of the most lucrative mobile phone markets in Europe.
The bulk of Meteor's subscribers are in the pre-paid market.
Owning a mobile network would enable Eircom to eventually offer a seamless package of fixed and mobile telephony including a single billing arrangement. Eircom currently has over two million fixed telephone lines across the country.
The Sunday Business also reports that Irish Nationwide will be worth as much as €1.5 billion when the building society is sold next year, according to Irish and international banking analysts.
The valuation, which is 50 per cent above previous estimates that the society would sell for €1 billion, will boost the anticipated payout for the society's members.
The Sunday Business Post has established that 125,000 members are likely to qualify for payments when the building society ends its mutual ownership status and is sold.
The figures, which include borrowing members, suggest that a society member will receive an average payment of around €12,000.
However, a planned employee share ownership plan (Esop) for staff and management, along with performance and sale bonuses to be paid to senior managers, will likely decrease the total amount available in the pool to be distributed to members after the sale.
Performance bonuses to be paid to managing director Michael Fingleton, who has led the society for more than 30 years, will have to be voted on and approved by society members. This newspaper has learned that Fingleton was paid just over €1 million last year, a pay increase of over 5 per cent. Fingleton is expected to step down when the society is sold next year.
The building society has been attempting to play down expectations among staff and society members on its likely total worth under a sale.
The Sunday Times reports that rush-hour commuters in Dublin could be forced to pay a congestion charge to use the choked-up M50 motorway.
The National Roads Authority (NRA) is considering introducing “demand management fees” to limit the number of commuters using the notoriously clogged highway at peak times once upgrade works are completed in 2008.
It plans to expand the ring road to three lanes and improve junctions in an attempt to get traffic moving, but the benefits could be lost if the number of cars increases in line with capacity as is expected. A congestion charge could help limit the volume of cars on Dublin’s busiest route but would prove unpopular with commuters.
The NRA has also warned that a buyout of the West-Link bridge, a chief cause of tailbacks on the M50, would not mean an end to tolls on the traffic-packed road.
Michael Egan, head of corporate affairs at the organisation, said that the state would continue to impose charges even if it took over the toll gates from National Toll Roads (NTR), the private company that runs them.
Egan said that an advanced congestion charge system could be introduced as early as 2008, at the same time as the Dublin motorway is expanded to three lanes and 10 access points are improved.
The Sunday Times also reports that cost-cutting measures may be partly to blame for the €2.5m robbery of a Brinks Allied security van last week.
Brinks Allied and Securicor cash-in-transit staff were required to return to secure compounds for coffee and lunch breaks until a round of cost-cutting ended the policy in 2000.
Kevin McMahon of Siptu, which represents 600 drivers and security workers in the sector, said returning to base was regarded as a costly waste of time and drivers were told to take breaks on the road. Two Brinks Allied drivers were held up and €2.5m stolen when they stopped for coffee at a service station in north Dublin on Wednesday.
McMahon said: “Previously, staff would have returned to the base for breaks but the time is a significant cost. Brinks are trading at a loss in Ireland because of the number of robberies and the losses they’ve incurred.
“There’s also been a price war going on, and the banks in particular have forced down prices . . . so they had to streamline their business.”
One security industry source close to Brinks Allied questioned whether the company’s insurers would cover the loss from the robbery last week given the circumstances.
The Sunday Tribune says that private bus operator Aircoach wants the right to bid for the state's €110m school bus contract and is considering taking a complaint to force the Department of Education to open the contract to competition.
The Sunday Tribune also reports that the Dublin Airport Authority could make at least €300m by selling its stakes in Dusseldorf and Bermingham airports to fund capital projects such as the Pier D and the second terminal at Dublin Airport.
