INM chief executive Vincent Crowley paid €627,000 last year

Vincent Crowley, the chief executive of Independent News & Media, was paid €627,000 last year, according to the company's annual report.

The figure mostly comprises a basic salary of €422,000 and a cash sum of €176,000 made in lieu of future pension benefits.

Mr Crowley became chief executive of the media group in April 2012 after the departure of Gavin O’Reilly and did not receive a salary increase on his appointment.

Mr O’Reilly’s disputed €1.87 million payout, which became the subject of a High Court case last year, is recorded in the annual report alongside a salary of €216,000 for his role as chief executive for the first four months of the year, benefits-in-kind of €28,000 and pension payments of €17,000.

This took Mr O’Reilly’s total compensation for 2012 to €2.13 million.

Paul Connolly, a director of INM and a representative of its biggest shareholder Denis O'Brien, brought proceedings against the company following the payout, arguing that the sum –which he claimed had been made to Mr O'Reilly with "indecent haste" – should have been approved by shareholders. The case was settled last July.

Donal Buggy, who was not re-elected to the board at INM's dramatic annual general meeting last June but continued as the group's chief financial officer until October, was paid a total remuneration package of €219,000 last year, down from €545,000 in 2011 when he was finance director.

Wholesale change
After a year of wholesale change on the INM board, a total of 15 former and current non-executive directors shared a remuneration pot of €520,000. James Osborne, who was ousted from his role as chairman at the agm, received €72,000.

This brings the total remuneration of executive and non-executive directors of the company to €3.5 million last year.

Mr Crowley said last Friday that INM would seek around 100 redundancies and restructure its pension scheme. The group made a pre-tax loss of almost €255 million in 2012.