Entrepreneur to gain almost €8 million in dividends from his stake in FBD

EAMON Waters, the entrepreneur who sold his Ballymount waste management company Beauparc Utilities to Australian investment bank Macquarie and Real Assets, is set to get roughly €7.8m in dividends from FBD this year after building a large stake in the insurer with proceeds from the sale of the waste company.

Tomás Ó Midheach, the FBD chief executive, announced a special dividend of €1 per ordinary share on Friday’s interim results as part of a distribution of surplus capital that had been promised in March.

The announcement came on top of an ordinary dividend of the same amount that was paid in April, which returned €36.2m to shareholders.

Waters, who owns 10.9 per cent of FBD ordinary shares through his personal investment vehicle Sretaw Private Equity, stands to earn another €3.9m from the forthcoming payout in October.

It is unlikely to be the last such windfall for Waters, who began building a stake in FBD in early 2022, just in time for a period of post-Covid profitability.

Ó Midheach said in March that the insurer had about €100m in excess capital to distribute over the next three to four years.

The company has significant capital headroom to fund further cash payments “in FY24 and beyond”, according to Goodbody Stockbrokers.

FBD reported a profit before tax of €39.5m and said it expected exposure to business interruption claims from the pandemic had fallen by €15m to €27m, providing a boost to expected future earnings.

Water’s holdings in FBD is worth about €57m with shares trading at €12.90.

Much of the stake was acquired when shares were below €11, meaning he has significant capital gains on his investment as well.

Waters sold Panda Waste owner Beauparc Utilities to Macquarie for €1.3bn in 2021.

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