Ornua, the former Irish Dairy Board, has announced a 9% increase in global sales to more than €2.5bn and a strong 18% increase in EBITDA, or operating profits, to €59m for the year to December 2015.
The results show that their nine top executives shared over €9 million in pay, bonuses and pension contributions over the last two years.
The details were released under obligations of new accounting rules.
The group’s latest annual report shows total remuneration for senior executives amounted to €4.4 million in 2015, including €2.3 million in basic salaries and €1.1 million in performance-related bonuses.
This was down from €4.86 million the previous year.
Formerly the Irish Dairy Board, Ornua is not under any obligation to give a breakdown of the individual packages paid to each executive, but total directors’ fees, spread between 14 individuals, amounted to €509,000 in 2015, up 44 per cent on the €352,000 paid in 2013.
Ornua distributed a regular bonus or dividend to those members of €14m last year and an additional special bonus of €15m arising from the off-loading of a US business.
As the country’s largest dairy exporting business, Ornua sells Irish products and ingredients, including branded Kerrygold butter, in more than 110 countries.
During the year, it either acquired or established manufacturing and distribution facilities in China, Saudi Arabia, and Spain.
It recently announced it would defer collection of its monthly milk levy on farmers here – which helps to support marketing costs – in order to alleviate farmers suffering from very low milk prices arising from the global oversupply of dairy products.
