FLYING HIGHER

IF RYANAIR floats at the end of May, in a move which could value the company at between £200 million and £250 million, it will make the Ryan family very rich. With a 62 per cent stake in the company, their shares could be worth more than £150 million.

But one man who also stands to benefit substantially is Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's chief executive, whose 18 per cent shareholding could be worth almost £50 million.

Final details of the proposed flotation are still being worked on, but industry sources believe the end of May would be the earliest date for a share offering.

The precise valuation will depend on investor reaction to the offering. Some say £250 million would be the maximum Ryanair could hope for. The company would hope to raise a substantial amount of money as part of the flotation, figures of up to £100 million have been suggested.

Such a move would give the growing airline access to more money to expand and would help the Ryan family realise some of their substantial investment, said to be around £14 million.

It would also catapult Mr O'Leary into the public eye as the company would become much more high profile. To date, Ryanair has always picked its moments for publicity carefully. Mr O'Leary, who, it is said, once had an abhorrence of the media, would become centre stage again as the company gives interviews and embarks on roadshows to investors and becomes a plc.

Like Ryanair, Mr O'Leary comes out now and again to grab the headlines and then retreats to his bunker at Dublin Airport for months on end. At a presentation to journalists in February on the company's plans for its new aircraft, Mr O'Leary even joked about it. "You're probably wondering why we're suddenly talking to everybody for the first time in 10 years," he said. "When this is finished we'll probably disappear for another 10 years," he quipped.

Publicity shy or not, Mr O'Leary is not afraid to fight his corner. He waged a campaign against Aer Rianta's landing charges last year, threatening not to fly any new routes out of Dublin unless they were reduced. Shortly afterwards, the former Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Michael Lowry, asked Aer Rianta to examine its charges. This later resulted in a new formula for calculating landing fees.

As a low fares airline, Ryanair is extremely conscious of costs and any savings it can make helps it to maintain cheap fares. Marketing itself as a "no frills" airline, its approach under Mr O'Leary is, as he once said, "to sell everything on board that's not nailed down".

Mr O'Leary knows all about costs. Aged 36, he began his career in KPMG, then trading as Stokes Kennedy Crowley, having graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a business degree. He worked in taxation for two years, but hated it.

He left and dabbled in property, bought, a couple of newsagents in Dublin, turned them around, made some money and sold them at a profit.

He once said his friends thought he was mad to get into that business, but admitted that he had made good money from the ventures. While in KPMG he had done some work for Dr Tony Ryan, then head of GPA, whose sons owned Ryanair.

Dr Ryan approached him after he left the accountancy firm and asked him to work for GPA. Mr O'Leary refused, saying he did not want to work for GPA.

Mr O'Leary said he wouldn't mind working for Ryan for one year. That was in 1988. In 1991 he began working more for Ryanair as chief operating officer and became chief executive in 1993. He had always acted as a troubleshooter for Ryan, helping to sort out tricky situations, including Tipperary Enterprise.

Mr O'Leary was undoubtedly once very close to Dr Ryan. Sources say this is no longer the case, that in some ways O'Leary has sought to distance Tony Ryan and his family from the business they founded.

He has never made any secret of his admiration for Ryan, who he has described as a genius. He has said the reason he went to work for Dr Ryan, was so that he could learn from him.

Only recently O'Leary's relationship with Ryan was thrust into the spotlight again during the court battle between former Miss Ireland Michelle Rocca and Tony Ryan's son Cathal.

Tony Ryan had asked O'Leary to try to sort things out following the incident at a party in Kildare. The court heard that Dr Ryan had sent Mr O'Leary to visit Ms Rocca, asking her about her financial situation and about allowing access to Ms Rocca and Cathal Ryan's daughter, Claudia.

Mr O'Leary had worked out a deal which entailed Mr Ryan paying £1,000 a month maintenance and a £5,000 sum to Ms Rocca and her children. She agreed. However, her legal team argued that, unknown to her, a clause had been inserted, saying that she would make no more claims against Cathal Ryan.

Mr O'Leary was cross examined in court about the matter and witnesses say he gave a good account of himself. Some said he was mad to take the stand, and would be seen as being "Tony Ryan's bagman". Such criticism didn't faze O'Leary, who shrugged it off saying he was always seen as being Ryan's bagman.

Mr O'Leary is described as being very driven, a workaholic who lives only for Ryanair. "He can be very tough and aggressive," says one acquaintance, "and he has, no real interest outside of Ryanair".

He works extremely long hours and is often in his office from around 6 a.m. and knows all areas of the business. On Good Friday he worked during the day as a baggage handler, something which he does from time to time. It is a practice he likes his senior staff to also employ. One senior manager who joined Ryanair last year started by flying with the cabin crew. Although very, experienced, Mr O'Leary began acquainting himself with the Ryanair business by working his way around the departments.

He is also said to be a voracious reader, very knowledgeable about the airline business. O'Leary likes to portray Ryanair as a young people's airline - pointing out the average age of employees is 29.

Not known as a socialiser - you don't see his name cropping up in the gossip columns very often - he is good company nonetheless when out socially. He plays a little bit of football with the Ryanair team, where he is known as an aggressive tackler. He also attends some rugby matches.

He doesn't stand on ceremony, preferring to dress in casual, but expensive clothes. One employee says O'Leary meets bankers in casual dress.

Although he is not short of money, he doesn't flash his wealth and drives a battered Honda Prelude. At one stage he owned several properties on Ely Place in Dublin, but it is said he has since sold them. He lives in an apartment in Sandymount, Dublin, but owns a farm in Westmeath, which is run by his brother and his parents.

He also owns several properties in Dublin. Last year he paid £900,000 for an 18 per cent stake in Ryanair. US investor Mr David Bonderman paid £1 million as well as providing loans of £24 million for a 20 per cent stake. This was seen as the first step towards floating Ryanair. It gave the company access to cash to buy more planes, which it did.

This year's profit figures will be well up on the last published figures, fir 1995, which showed a profit of £5 million, are now likely to be well into double figures.

The company expects to carry four million passengers this year.

To justify a stock market valuation of £250 million, Ryanair would need to be on course to record annual profit of around £20 million. It is all a long way from seven years ago when the company was within hours of going bankrupt with debts approaching £20 million.