Faxhill Homes losses widen to €3m

THE Co Kildare-based property developer Faxhill Homes saw its losses widen last year from just over €1.7 million to nearly €3m.

The Naas-headquartered firm, whose principal activities are listed as building contractor and hotelier, generated a pre-tax loss of €2.97m for the 12 months to the end of last October, according to newly filed accounts with the Companies Office.

While this was up from the €1.72m loss filed in 2009, it is still well below the €16.3m losses the company suffered in 2008.

Faxhill also made an operating loss of €333,291 for the year, down from an operating profit of €936,962 in the previous 12 months.

Turnover at the company, which hit the headlines a decade ago after building an extension to the home of controversial Tipperary TD Michael Lowry and being fined for issuing false documents relating to work carried out for Ben Dunne, was also in decline, falling from €13.9m to €11.7m.

The company’s staff costs also fell last year — down from €5.34m in 2009 to €4.64m. Employee numbers fell from 200 to 190.

Directors’ pay also fell by almost €65,000 to €200,000. Faxhill’s directors are listed as Denis McCoy and John Tierney, who was previously linked with the Drumaville consortium of Irish businessmen who bought Sunderland Football Club five years ago.

Faxhill’s directors said they were not recommending the payment of a final dividend, but “intend to continue to expand and develop the trading activities of the group”.

In the review of the business, the directors said that the company is dependent on the support of its banks and that, since the end of its financial year, its bank loans had been moved to NAMA — which has since extended the term of the company’s existing loan facilities.

Faxhill’s latest balance sheet showed a deficit on reserves of €3.56m.

“The directors are satisfied that NAMA will continue to provide adequate facilities to the group for the foreseeable future,” the accounts said.