Large doesn’t go large

Just what Andrew Large, Brian Lenihan’s special adviser on banking, does for his £100,000 fee is something of a state secret. But thanks to documents released by the public accounts committee last week, we know he is meticulous with his expenses.

The former Bank of England deputy governor invoiced the NTMA Agency for just over €2,700 in expenses in 2009. In February that year, just before the announcement of the €7bn recapitalisation of AIB and Bank of Ireland, Large flew to Dublin on Ryanair, a flight that cost roughly the same as the £108.19 he paid a driver to take him to the airport. Thankfully, a month later, Large was able to reduce the cost to the state by taking a taxi and the Heathrow Express to the airport for his flight to Dublin.

In April 2009 the NTMA again picked up the tab for an Aer Arann flight from Dublin to Cardiff for Large at a cost of £80, and then a taxi to his Welsh holiday home for nearly £100.

Gartmore on the money

Gervais Williams may have left but his Gartmore Irish Growth Fund is still proving to be on the money with its stock picks.

The fund revealed last week that its three biggest holdings at the end of November were Greencore, Origin Enterprises and Irish Continental Group. Gartmore investors will have noticed that the three companies have had a lot of positive news in recent weeks, particularly Greencore with its merger with Northern Foods.

Williams’ exit after 17 years raised some concerns as to whether Gartmore, which is itself up for sale after the departure of senior asset managers, would continue with the fund. The com­pany hasn’t named a replacement for Williams, though the fund is now managed by Adam McConkey.

With McConkey continuing Williams’ run of good timing in his stock picks, it would be a shame if the fund were discontinued. Williams, after all, was one of the few fund managers not to pile into Anglo Irish Bank.

Fight and flight for Joyce

Dubliner Alan Joyce has given other chief executives a master class in how to deal with a crisis.

Qantas was rarely out of the public eye after an engine on one of its superjumbo A380s disintegrated last month mid-flight.

As well as regular media updates on the process of getting the A380s back in the air, Joyce also recorded a YouTube clip and hit the airwaves to reassure passengers about safety. He followed that up by travelling on the first flight of the A380 following modifications.

But he hasn’t taken too kindly to a story in The Australian newspaper mocking his accent. The paper was forced to apologise to Joyce and remove the story from its website.