In Short

A round up of today's other financial stories in brief

Tesco chief faces criticism over pay deal

Supermarket group Tesco came under fire over its controversial executive pay scheme yesterday as more than 16 per cent of its shareholders opposed the retailer's plans to award Sir Terry Leahy a 2.5 million-share bonus linked to the company's US launch.

The protest vote at the group's annual meeting came after a wide debate in the City over the merits of linking part of Sir Terry's bonus to the launch of the US Fresh & Easy chain, which will open on the west coast in November.

The Association of British Insurers issued an "amber top" rating on the retailer's plan to award Sir Terry a share bonus - worth up to £11.5 million - which was skewed towards the US performance. It is understood that the shareholder body was uncomfortable with the proposals, as it is not normal practice to weight chief executives' awards in this way. - (Financial Times service)

Ryanair in €100m share buyback

Ryanair has spent more than €100 million buying back its own shares over the past two days.

In three separate statements to the stock exchange, the company said it had bought a total of 21.5 million shares at a cost of €4.95 each.

This brings the amount spent by the airline on its own shares to €146 million.

PRSA accounts up 37% in 2006

The number of people taking out Personal Savings Retirement Accounts (PRSAs) - a portable personal pension plan launched in 2003 - jumped by 37 per cent in 2006, according to the data released yesterday by the Pensions Board. The number remains far below initial targets.

The board also found that 67 per cent of PRSA contributors are aged between 25 and 44.

Three-quarters of all people with PRSAs are employees, while 24 per cent are self-employed, and the remaining 1 per cent are unemployed.

Data previously compiled by the Pensions Board found that a total of 103,027 PRSAs had been taken out by the end of March this year.

Kerry and C&C in share buybacks

Food group Kerry and cider maker C&C both confirmed yesterday they had bought back a further 300,000 of their own shares at a cost of €6.2 million and €3.1 million respectively.

All the shares will be cancelled.

Spin South West wins contract

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has signed a 10-year contract with Spin South West to provide a sound broadcasting service to the southwest region of Ireland, covering Kerry, Limerick, Clare, North Tipperary and southwest Laois.

The station will include a mixture of talk and radio programmes aimed at the 15- to 34-year-old age bracket, incorporating news and sports coverage. A number of specialist music shows are also planned.

The BCI has announced yesterday that it is inviting applications for the operation of a radio broadcasting service in southwest Tipperary.

New chief for Musgrave UK

A former UK lottery executive is taking over the reins at retail franchise Musgrave's British operation.

The Cork-based company announced yesterday that Phil Smith will take over as managing director of Musgrave Great Britain and become a board member of Musgrave group from next September.

Mr Smith most recently served as commercial and operations director for the UK's national lottery operator Camelot. Before that, he worked for the Kraft Foods organisation in a variety of roles.