Much has changed at Eir since its privatisation in 1999 but one thing remains unchanged: the ability of its owners to take cash out of the business.
The telco published its full-year results on Wednesday. The annual report to bondholders showed that, in 2025, Eir paid a dividend of €195 million to its equity shareholders, nearly 1.9 times the €105 million after-tax profit achieved by the company.
The company had paid its shareholders €167 million in dividends a year earlier.
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It brings to about €2.4 billion the sum paid out to shareholders since companies controlled by French billionaire Xavier Niel acquired 64.5 per cent of the group in April 2018 when buying it out of examinership.
Niel’s entity, Jersey-based Wexford Ltd, received €160 million of the dividends paid out by Eir last year.
Anchorage, a US hedge fund, holds the balance of the equity and received €35 million of the dividend payments last year.
There’s long been a tradition of Eir being tapped for cash by its many owners (Tony O’Reilly’s Valentia consortium and Australia’s Babcock & Brown among them) once it was taken off the stock market following its underwhelming performance post the IPO in 1999 – a flotation that left hundreds of thousands of retail investors nursing hefty losses.
Eir is undoubtedly in a better place than when Niel and the bondholders took over the business following what was the State’s largest examinership process. And Niel is a man with deep pockets that could presumably be deployed if needed.
The group had gross debt of just under €3 billion at the year end, according to the report to bondholders. And its finance costs last year were a substantial €144 million.
“We are highly leveraged,” the results note under the heading of risks relating to its financial profile. As mentioned earlier, much has changed but much remains the same at Eir.
[ Eir revenue rose last year on strong fourth quarterOpens in new window ]
