DR Michael Smurfit has generated a paper profit of over £11 million as part of transactions by a number of directors of the Jefferson Smurfit Group. The directors have shown their confidence in the group by exercising options to buy group shares.
Dr Smurfit exercised options and bought 17,090,492 shares or 1.55 per cent of the group. He paid 91.66p per share, giving a total cost of £15,665,144. Smurfit, shares closed yesterday at 159p, putting a value of £27,173,882 on Dr Smurfit's new block of shares and giving him a paper profit of £11,508,738.
The exercise of the options brings Dr Smurfit's stake in the group to 6.51 per cent, while he holds an additional 0.92 per cent stake as a trustee.
Mr Dermot Smurfit bought" 649,124 shares at 91.66p, spending £594,987. At yesterday's closing price his new block of shares was worth £1,032,107, giving him a paper profit of £437,120. Mr Smurfit now owns 0.54 per cent of the group.
Group chief executive Mr Paddy Wright bought 301,380 shares at 91.66p each, spending £276,245 and bringing his stake in the group to 0.13 per cent. He made a paper profit of £217,259 on the transaction.
Smurfit group secretary Mr Michael Pettigrew increased his stake in the group to 0.04 per cent through the acquisition of 139,100 shares at a cost of £127,499. His paper profit on the purchase was £93,670.
Last week, the group reported a 52 per cent fall in pre tax profits to for 1996 in difficult international paper markets. Today its US associate Jefferson Smurfit Corporation is expected to announce a loss of about 3 cents per share for the first three months of the yearn In the cyclical paper and packaging sector, the group is restricting capital spending to protect profits in weak markets.
