Latest news with #MichaelOLeary
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Jackpot! Ryanair CEO O'Leary set for €111m bonus as shares surge
DUBLIN, May 31 — Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary is on track to receive more than €100 million (US$113.6 million) worth of share bonuses, reported PA Media/dpa. The longstanding boss has qualified for the share options after shares in the Dublin-based company hit a six-year-old target. Shares in the budget airline have met a requirement to close above €21 for a 28th consecutive day. The share rule was set up in February 2019, requiring the consistently high level of shares before 2028. It would provide him with 10 million shares worth around €111.2 million. O'Leary will receive the share package if he stay with the business, which he has led since 1994, until 2028. Ryanair shares sat at €23.28 on Friday despite dipping slightly from their peak the previous day. Ryanair has been contacted for comment. When asked about the share option earlier this month, O'Leary said: 'I think we're delivering exceptional value for Ryanair shareholders in an era when Premiership footballers and managers are getting paid 20-25 million a year. 'I think Ryanair shareholders are getting a particular value out of our share options - both mine and the rest of the management team.' Rival low-cost rival carrier Wizz Air has a similar pay pledge for its chief executive Jozsef Varadi, which would provide him with £100 million (US$135 million) worth of bonuses if its share reached £120 by 2028. Its shares are currently valued at around £16. — Bernama/dpa
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Ryanair boss's $110 mln payday required big lift
LONDON, May 30 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The end of the month typically means payday for workers across the world. But Michael O'Leary is going one better: the Ryanair (RYA.I), opens new tab CEO on Thursday hit a stock price goal that paves the way to share options potentially worth over 100 million euros. Investors in many ways have O'Leary to thank for the airline's longtime outperformance. But the decision to extend the scheme part way through – and the use of share buybacks – is a good example of how boards can make sure bulky executive pay reaches its destination. Like a pilot 'going around' to attempt a second landing, the share options plan is in many ways a do-over. Announced in early 2019 as part of O'Leary's new contract, it had two tracks. It gave him the option to purchase 10 million shares at 11.12 euros apiece if he could get the share price above 21 euros for a 28-day period, or achieve an annual profit after tax of 2 billion euros, before the end of March 2024. But after Covid-19 tanked the airline industry and Ryanair's share price languished around 13 euros, the board in late 2022 took the decision to extend the plan into 2028, while bumping the after-tax profit target up to 2.2 billion euros. In its most straightforward sense, the scheme has worked: having now ticked off the 28-day streak, O'Leary is incentivised to get the share price up by as much as possible into 2028, when – on the added condition he remains at the company until the end of July that year – his options vest, giving him the right to pocket shares at the agreed 11.12 euro price. Ryanair investors also get to hang on to their superstar CEO for a few more years, who since taking the helm in 1994 has transformed the company into Europe's largest listed airline by market capitalisation. Still, one criticism of incentive packages based on simple share price targets is that they're often out of a CEO's direct control. Indeed, vaulting the 21 euro mark has required more than a few tailwinds. Short-haul leisure travel recovered, opens new tab more quickly from the pandemic than long-haul and business flying, for example, while delays in the delivery of new aircraft from Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab left Ryanair with more cash than expected, much of which was returned to shareholders. In its latest financial year, the company undertook around 1.5 billion euros of share buybacks, compared with zero buybacks during the previous four years. Most glaringly, the targets would probably not have been achieved had Ryanair's board not opted to extend the terms, given it delivered 1.9 billion euros of profit after tax – 100 million euros below the original target – in the year to March 2024, while the share price goal has only just been hit now, having averaged around 17 euros during the same 12-month period. Granted, investors may not bemoan this shifting of the goalposts. Analysts are expecting Ryanair to post almost 2.3 billion euros of profit after tax in the year to March 2027, according to forecasts compiled by Visible Alpha, meaning the new targets would probably have been met through either route anyway. But the extension of the scheme and use of share buybacks mean this particular early arrival comes through a grey cloud. Follow @Breakingviews, opens new tab on X
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Holidaymakers face air traffic delays this summer
Air traffic control delays will hit more passengers this summer, Ryanair warned on Friday as it named the French authorities as the biggest cause of hold-ups to its flights. The Irish airline and other carriers have been campaigning for several years for reform of air traffic management in the EU, which remains under each member state's control. Delays will be 'worse in summer 2025″ as the European Commission and individual governments have not acted to fix their 'shoddy air traffic control servces', Ryanair predicted. Mismanagement and short staffing caused a record number of air traffic control-related delays last year, despite there being 5 per cent fewer flights than before Covid-19, the airline said. READ MORE Ryanair named France at the top of its 'air traffic control league of delays' for the first five months of this year. More than 15,600 of its flights there were delayed, hitting 2.81 million of its passengers, according to its figures. Ryanair blamed the country's transport minister, Philipe Tabarot, as he is the government member responsible for air traffic control. Spain followed with 11,576 delayed flights, affecting two million passengers, with the Irish carrier naming minister, Oscar Puente, as the politician responsible. Germany, Portugal and the UK, made up the five worst offenders that the airline named. Ryanair argued that European transport ministers should not be allowed preside over another summer of air traffic control delays. Michael O'Leary, its chief executive, pointed out that airlines inform national air traffic control authorities of schedules almost 12 months in advance. 'This is especially important for the first wave of morning flights as any morning delays knock on to flights throughout the rest of the day,' he said. Tackling staff shortages and protecting overflights during strikes in member states would 'eliminate 90 per cent of EU's air traffic control delays but transport ministers won't take any action', he added.
BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary on track for €100m bonus
Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary is on track to receive more than €100 million worth of share bonuses. The longstanding boss has qualified for the share options after shares in the Dublin-based company hit a six-year-old target. Advertisement Shares in the budget airline have met a requirement to close above €21 for a 28th consecutive day. The share rule was set up in February 2019, requiring the consistently high level of shares before 2028. Ryanair shares sat at €23.28 euros on Friday. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA It would provide him with 10 million shares worth around €111.2 million. Mr O'Leary will receive the share package if he stays with the business, which he has led since 1994, until 2028. Advertisement Ryanair shares sat at €23.28 on Friday despite dipping slightly from their peak the previous day. Ryanair has been contacted for comment. Ireland Ryanair to raise prices as it seeks return to prof... Read More When asked about the share option earlier this month, Mr O'Leary said: 'I think we're delivering exceptional value for Ryanair shareholders in an era when Premiership footballers and managers are getting paid €20-25 million a year. 'I think Ryanair shareholders are getting a particular value out of our share options – both mine and the rest of the management team.' Advertisement Rival low-cost rival carrier Wizz Air has a similar pay pledge for its chief executive Jozsef Varadi, which would provide him with £100 million (€118) worth of bonuses if its share reached £120 by 2028. Its shares are currently valued at around £16.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary hits €100m bonus target
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has qualified for share options worth more than €100 million after the airline's shares hit a key performance target, paving the way for one of the biggest payouts in European corporate history. Shares this week closed at more than €21 for a 28th consecutive day, meeting one of two conditions attached to Mr O'Leary's bumper pay deal. The 64-year-old will have to stay at Ryanair until the end of July 2028 to collect the share options – worth more than €111 million – as part of an incentive scheme agreed in 2019. Mr O'Leary, known for his pugnacious style, defended his potential windfall earlier this month after Ryanair reported a fall in full-year profits. [ Ryanair's sky-high gains fuel O'Leary's bonus ambitions Opens in new window ] [ O'Leary flies closer to €100m pay-day Opens in new window ] 'I think we're delivering exceptional value for Ryanair shareholders in an era when premiership footballers or the managers are getting paid €20 million to €25 million a year,' he said. READ MORE Ryanair shareholders, he added, were 'getting particular value out of our share options – both mine and the rest of the management team'. Mr O'Leary said that as the options would not vest for another three years, he and the 'rest of the management team have to stay here to 2028 and continue to deliver before we can actually get hold of those share options'. 'So they don't come around for another three years and a lot can happen between now and then,' he added. Mr O'Leary also signalled he could stay at the airline when his current contract expired in 2028. 'My contract runs out in 2028 and there'll have to be some discussion I presume with the board as to how my remuneration will be fixed from 2028 onwards, if they want me to stay on after 2028,' he said. Mr O'Leary's potential pay deal compares with that of József Váradi, boss of low-cost rival Wizz Air, who stands to earn £100 million if that airline's share price hits £120 by 2028. But Wizz Air has previously conceded that this was unlikely to be met with the shares trading well below that level. Bumper pay packages are more common in the US. GE Aerospace chief executive Larry Culp received $89 million in 2024, making him one of the highest-paid US executives. Some European companies, including the London Stock Exchange Group, have been pushing for higher pay rewards for their executives. Since becoming chief executive of Ryanair in 1994, Mr O'Leary has masterminded the airline's breakneck growth as it has grown from a small regional airline into a force in global aviation. The airline has cemented its position as the undisputed leader in European low-cost aviation after using the disruption caused by the pandemic to increase its market share as weaker rivals retrenched. Mr O'Leary receives a basic salary of €1.2 million a year, but also owns a stake in Ryanair worth about €930 million. Under the scheme agreed in 2019, he was granted the options to buy 10 million shares at €11.12 each if either the airline's share price hit €21 for 28 consecutive days, or it reported €2.2 billion in annual profits after tax any time up to 2028. Ryanair said: 'If the share price remains above €21 until close of play on Thurs 29 May, then the 28-day share price condition will have been met. However, this is only one of two conditions for the share options to vest.' – Copyright The Financial Times Limited
