Profit turnaround for directory enquiries firm

DIRECTORY enquiries firm Conduit has moved back into the black, with earnings of nearly €8.5 million in the year to end March.

The company, which went private following a management buy-out two years ago, said it had reversed the loss it had racked up the previous year of €23.5m before interest, tax and depreciation.

At pre-tax level, the Dublin-based firm made profits of €3.2m from a loss of €30m in the previous 12 months.

Conduit’s chief executive Liam Young said yesterday that he was “delighted” with the scale and quality of the turnaround of the company over the last year.

“This has been achieved by the combination of hard work and determination by a dedicated staff, board and management and a general reorganisation of our business.”

However, turnover for the year slipped to €57m from €59.5m. The company did not say where the drop came from, but said all the markets in which it operates made a positive cash contribution to the group.

“A strong performance of our 11850 directory assistance brand in Ireland as well as our other directory enquiry brands in the UK, Austria, Spain and Switzerland, all contributed significantly to these results,” Mr Young said.

He added that as part of the company’s plan to focus its resources on the most profitable areas of the business, Conduit was in the process of selling its directory enquiries business in Spain.

The figures will be a welcome boost to Conduit’s investors, which includes Bank of Scotland’s venture capital ICC Bank. Having gone private in 2003, the company fell into financial difficulties following the costly launch into the British directory enquiries market.

After a €15m cash injection from ICC, the company fortunes have changed and it is planning to launch a number of new services in the coming months, including a web-based search solution.

There are also plans to launch a major new promotional campaign later this year.