Food and ingredients group Glanbia paid its four top executives a combined pay packet of €4.22 million last year, 7.65 per cent higher than the €3.92 million remuneration paid in 2013.

Siobhan Talbot, who took over as group managing director from John Moloney in November 2013, took home a pay packet of €1.6 million last year. This was significantly higher than the €1.2 million paid to then managing director John Moloney in 2013.

Ms Talbot’s total 2014 remuneration package – which included a basic salary of €750,000, bonus of €563,000, and pension contribution of €199,000 – jumped to €1.62 million from €1.02 million the previous year when she was finance director.

Group finance director Mark Garvey received a total pay packet of €833,000 last year, which included a basic salary of €400,000 and a bonus of €300,000.

In 2013, his remuneration was €129,000 according to Kilkenny-based Glanbia’s annual report. He was appointed group finance director in late 2013.

Hugh McGuire, head of Glanbia’s Performance Nutrition division, saw his pay rise to €926,000. Mr McGuire received a basic salary of €400,000 as well as pension contributions of €60,000 and a bonus of €300,000 during the year. He also received an overseas allowance of €98,964. In June 2013, Mr McGuire was promoted to his current post, and that year he received a salary of €584,000.

Brian Phelan, chief executive of Glanbia Global Ingredients, saw his pay decline from €876,000 in 2013 to €840,000 last year.

Glanbia reported its fifth year of consecutive double digit growth earlier this year.

Revenues at the food and ingredients group advanced by 6.9 per cent to €3.5 billion, as group earnings (EBITA) grew by 7.9 per cent to €245 million in the year to January 3rd 2015. Pre-tax profits dipped slightly, down to €173 million from €176 million in 2013.

Earlier this month, Glanbia sold its stake in Nutricima for a cash consideration of £21 million (€29 million). As part of the deal, Glanbia Ingredients Ireland has entered into a long-term agreement with Nutricima for the supply of dairy ingredients.