Corporate travel firm nets €600k profit

CORPORATE travel firm Executive Travel generated a pre-tax profit of €602,643 last year, according to consolidated accounts from its former holding company Harrin Ltd.

The company — which now goes under the name of its international partner — Carlson Wagonlit Travel Ireland — had made a profit of €253,786 in 2009. Gross sales, in 2010, rose by nearly €12 million to just under €39.4m.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s after-tax profits jumped from €230,214 in 2009 to €523,610 last year.

In the accounts (the company is set to publish a more detailed set of accounts for 2010 later this month), Harrin said that Executive Travel, which is based in Donnybrook, “enjoyed a successful year” in a difficult economic climate.

“The company had undertaken a restructuring plan in 2009 to re-align its business activities and reduce its overheads. The benefits of the lower-cost base coming out of the restructuring, combined with the increased levels of business, resulted in a strong financial performance for the year. The business retained key clients throughout the year and signed major new clients,” it added in its review of the business.

The accounts also said that Carlson Wagonlit Travel Ireland’s directors remain confident that the company will continue to trade profitably, “as the level of business travel returns to pre-recession levels”.

While the 2010 results show that Executive Travel returned to strong growth last year, its profits are still below the high levels seen in 2008 when its pre-tax profit topped the €1m mark and gross sales came in at just under €40m.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel operates globally across more than 150 countries and has total group sales of $24.3 billion.

Harrin’s accounts show that total labour costs, including wages and salaries, fell slightly last year from just over €1.6m to €1.52m.