Abbey profits soar to €36.7m

PROFITS at builders Abbey Plc soared by 37% to €36.7m with the buoyant Irish housing market pushing profit margins in the sector to 28.4%.

The Dublin-based builder of three and four bedroomed houses in Ireland and Britain said net profits surged to 107.62 cents a share, for the year ended April 30, from 26.7, or 78.4 cents, a year earlier.

Rising house prices in Ireland bolstered Abbey’s revenue, with the lowest borrowing rates for half a century driving sales as the British market begins to cool.