Ryanair: O’Leary closes in on £86m bonus as shares break records
Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary could be in line for a bumper €100m (£86m) pay packet, as the carrier’s shares hit record highs this week.
O’Leary will receive share options of around €100m, one of the largest payouts in corporate Europe’s history, should the low-cost airline’s shares reach €21 for 28 days, or if it nets €2.2bn in annual post-tax profit.
Shares reached €18.99 on Friday and are up over 50 per cent in the year to date, with Ryanair proving one of the biggest beneficiaries of this years post-Covid travel boom.
The company is looking at post-tax profits of between €1.85bn and €2.05bn for the year ending March, a forecast made after it reported record half-year earnings November and announced a maiden dividend for shareholders.
The 62-year old, who has served as the Irish group’s boss for nigh on two decades, agreed last December to widen his contract to 2028, in a deal which extended the company’s bonus scheme to the same year.
He also holds a 3.9 per cent stake at a market value of €907m, according to Factset data cited by the Financial Times, who first reported the story.
Rival Wizz Air’s chief executive, József Váradi, could also be in line for an eye-watering £100m bonus, should the Hungarian airline’s market value reach £12bn by 2028.
But low-cost carriers are facing significant headwinds as supply chain issues refuse to let up and oil prices spike on resurgent conflict in the Middle East.
Despite a stellar run this year, Ryanair has repeatedly warned over delivery delays at Boeing, which influenced a fare rise of nearly a quarter during the busy summer season. The company also trimmed its full-year traffic guidance as a result of the supply chain setbacks.