For smaller shareholders who’ve held on to their Applegreen shares since the company first listed on the stock market five years ago, this is somewhat of a damp squib.
The shares floated at €3.80 each in June 2015. They traded as high as about €6.62, a level hit in September 2018, and sank as low as €2.05 when the pandemic struck.
Dividends have been modest. Its first, of 1.25 cent per share, was paid in 2017 in respect of 2016. Shareholders will be offered €5.75 per share if the take-private goes ahead – better than a kick in the pants, at least, but still only a 51pc return on the flotation price after half a decade, and dividends that were about as attractive as getting a £5 banknote issued by a Northern Ireland bank from an aunt in your birthday card.