Profits of €1m for National Linen

THE textile rental firm National Linen made profits of almost €1 million last year, according to recently filed accounts.

National Linen, which was established by Corkmen Denis O’Callaghan and Seamus Desmond with backing from NCB Ventures, made pre-tax profits of €988,968 in the year to May 2003, up from €634,452 the previous year.

Turnover at the company, which supplies towels and other linen products to hotels and restaurants, increased up from €6.7m to €10.8m, while operating profits grew by 75% from €787,349 to €1.37m. The company had retained profits of €1.6m at the end of its financial year.

National Linen employed 225 people over the period, up from 168 in 2002. The wages and salary bill for the year came to €3.8m up from €2.5m, giving an average annual salary of just over €17,000 per employee.

Mr O’Callaghan and Mr Desmond were paid €311,480 in salary and pension contributions, up on the 286,699 they received the previous year.

Last August National Linen acquired Connacht Court Group, the country’s largest supplier of products for €21m. In 2002 Connacht Court had turnover and loss before tax were €25.3m and €1.27m respectively, while net assets at December 2002 were €4.8m.

Connacht Court’s head office is in Galway, with textile rental plants in Galway, Dublin and Belfast, and specialist cleanroom facilities in Galway, Spiddal and Dublin. The combined company will have over 600 employees in 10 locations.

The deal was extremely good for National Linen despite Connacht’s losses.

National Linen is based in Dublin but is building a new facility in Cork after the takeover of Microtech Cleanroom Services three years ago.