O'Leary tails rival in pay freeze

One More Thing:IT IS rare that Ryanair follows Aer Lingus's lead, especially when it comes to cost efficiencies, so Dermot Mannion might have allowed himself a wry smile when Michael O'Leary announced a management pay freeze on Wednesday.

A similar measure was introduced at Aer Lingus last year as management's contribution to the company-wide cost-cutting plan, aimed at shaving €20 million a year from its cost base.

Of course the so-called PCI-07 restructuring plan has yet to be fully implemented and Mannion's insistence that it would be in force before the end of last year proved to be wishful thinking.

No such dithering at Ryanair. O'Leary's decision to freeze management pay is one of a series of measures that it plans to take in a bid to cut up to €400 million from its cost base. This is a reaction to a likely halving of profits this year due to the high cost of oil.

Ryanair's hedging contracts expire on April 1st, exposing the airline to the full effects of $100-a-barrel oil. For once, O'Leary's doomsday-like assessment of future trading seems to be justified.

EasyJet, its biggest low fares rival, recently issued a profit warning, while Aer Lingus warned of tougher times ahead. The environment for airlines could barely be more turbulent.

O'Leary is looking for cost cuts where he can, while trying to protect its cash balances.

One obvious way for Ryanair to boost its cash pile would be to sell its 115.7 million shares in Aer Lingus.

This would net the airline about €320 million, roughly €60 million below what it paid for the shares.

Selling at a loss would be a bitter pill for O'Leary to swallow but Aer Lingus's share price is going nowhere quickly

Ryanair's chances of winning its appeal to be allowed acquire Aer Lingus also seem remote. There's no dividend payment, so the only value to O'Leary is to be able to cause mischief.

Let's face it, he doesn't need to be a shareholder to do that effectively.