ADARE managing director, Mr Nelson Loane, made almost £350,000 on a share option deal and at the same time doubled his holding in the printing company to 6.33 per cent yesterday.

Mr Loane bought 500,000 share options at 90p from previous directors, and then he and his family interests sold 178,000 of these yesterday at 450p making a profit of £351,000. The rest of the options were converted into shares increasing Mr Loane's holding to 675,000 or 6.33 per cent of the company.

Earlier this month, the company announced the loss of 70 jobs at Mount Salus Press after it lost a lucrative printing contract with Microsoft.

Adare only bought Mount Salus last year for £12 million and the contract made up around 60 per cent of its business. The loss of the business led to an 85p drop in the share price to 440p, however, it closed unchanged yesterday at 470p.