Auditors unsure of firm’s land valuation

AUDITORS for Shannon Homes, one of the most active house builders in the Dublin area over the past decade, have questioned the €72 million value put on a land bank owned by the group.

During the housing boom, Shannon Homes was one of the largest private house builders in the Dublin and Louth areas owning large tracts of land in north Dublin.

However, in accounts recently filed by subsidiary, Shannon Homes (Construction) Ltd, they show that the company’s revenues plummeted by 91% from €38.1m to €3.4mafter the company ceased all house building due to the downturn in the construction sector in the year to the end of March last.

The directors state that “the company plans to resume activity when market conditions improve”.

In the accounts returned to the Companies Registration Office, they show that the company recorded a pre-tax profit of €719,941 after a pre-tax loss of €14.7m was incurred in 2008.

In a statement attached to the 2009 accounts, auditors, McFeely and McKiernan of Western Parkway Business Park, Ballymount Road, Dublin state that the firm has put a value of €72.7m on its land bank.

They state: “Although, the directors have valued the land bank and work in progress to the best of their ability, there is no active market from which we could make an assessment of the net realisable value or value in use.”