Ryanair director Mr James Osborne has taken advantage of the huge rise in the share price following the share placing last week to sell 200,000 shares and make a profit of almost £1.5 million in the process.
Mr Osborne sold the shares at €9.476 (£7.46) on Wednesday, a price which is only a couple of pence below Ryanair's all-time high share price.
A former managing partner of law firm A&L Goodbody and now a director of 10 companies including Ryanair and Golden Vale, the £1,484,000 Mr Osborne got for his 200,000 Ryanair shares is almost totally profit.
Shortly before Ryanair floated on the stock market in May 1997, Mr Osborne was given the option of buying 625,000 shares at just 4p each for a total of £25,000. This compares with the 195p flotation price and the current price in the market of €9.10 (£7.17).
In July last year, Mr Osborne sold 200,000 of these shares at various prices to realise a profit of £1 million. His remaining 226,282 shares are worth €2.06 million (£1.62 million) at the current market price.
A placing of 28.9 million Ryanair shares, owned by the Ryan family, at €8.38 (£6.60) was five times oversubscribed and frustrated institutional investors drove the shares up in huge volumes to a high of €9.50 (£7.48) immediately after the completion of the placing. Since then the shares have drifted back and closed yesterday at €9.10 (£7.17).
