A round-up of today's other stories in brief
McDowell Purcell law firm sued by bank over security for loan
ACCBank has sued a firm of solicitors for some €5.75 million over alleged failure to ensure the bank had proper security in relation to a loan advanced to buy a hotel, bistro and nightclub in Dromahair, Co Leitrim, writes Mary Carolan.
The proceedings were transferred to the Commercial Court yesterday by Mr Justice Peter Kelly. The case is against Denis M McDowell, John Paul McDowell and Breen JF Purcells, practising as McDowell Purcell Solicitors, Capel Building, Dublin. In an affidavit, a solicitor for the defendant solicitors said they refuted the allegations against them.
Bonuses push up pay at United Drug
Cash bonuses of €785,000 were the major factor behind a 21.5 per cent increase in remuneration for executive directors at United Drug last year.
Chief executive Liam FitzGerald and his four executive colleagues received total remuneration of €3.43 million in the year to the end of September last. This included the cash bonuses.
The directors had waived cash bonuses to which they were entitled in the previous year, the annual report stated.
The salaries of the healthcare outsourcing and wholesale group’s five executive directors were frozen for the year, as were fees for the eight non- executive directors who served during the period.
Non-executive directors shared fees of €507,000 compared to €490,000 the previous year. Mr FitzGerald earned a package of €1.18 million last year.
Begg appointed to Aer Lingus board
Aer Lingus has appointed Ictu general secretary David Begg as a non-executive director to its board.
Mr Begg has served as a director nominated by Aer Lingus’s employee share ownership trust (Esot) since 2008. Last year the airline decided to pay the Esot €25.3 million to clear its debt.
Aer Lingus also announced that Michael Johns would retire as an Esot nominated director from February 28th.
Firm insolvencies down by 28%
The latest statistics from InsolvencyJournal.ie show that 96 companies went out of business last month, which represents a 28 per cent decline from December.
Ken Fennell, a partner at Kavanagh Fennell which compiles the results, said it was too early to say if insolvency rates had peaked.
He expects a fall in rates of construction insolvencies to be offset by a rise in the retail and hospitality sectors.