Pre-tax profits up by 55% at timber processing group Glennon Bros
The Longford-based group won the industry section in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award last year and the figures show revenues at the group increased by 45.5% from €58.7m to €85.5m in the 12 months to the end of December last.
Joint managing director Mike Glennon said: “2010 was another difficult year in Ireland, but we managed to achieve a number of important objectives.”
He said that these include “doubling our exports from Ireland from €10m to €20m and we kept the Irish production facility on near full production for the year, compared to 17% lost days production in 2009, which is a considerable achievement given the collapse of the Irish house building industry”.
Mr Glennon said a 56% increase in the firm’s Irish operations had been “completely eroded by the excessively high log costs in Ireland”.
Last month, the group — established in 1913 — announced a three-year deal to be the sponsor of Longford GAA from the 2012 season.
The group had accumulated profits last year of €37.2m with the numbers employed increasing last year from 303 to 342. At the end of last year, the group had cash totalling €17.7m.
On 2011 to date, Mr Glennon said: “We had a strong first six months of 2011 in the three UK businesses but demand in the second half of 2011 moderated with customer confidence abating. These factors will have some negative impact on the performance in 2011.”
He added: “In Ireland, we worked hard to maintain the export level achieved in 2010, which was double of that achieved in 2009.
He said: “Once again, high log prices in Ireland have impacted negatively on the performance of the Irish business. The importance of a continuous log supply to the sawmilling sector cannot be emphasised enough, bearing in mind the shortage of logs on the island of Ireland.”
Mr Glennon also pointed out: “One of the major threats facing the Irish forest products sector is the potential sales of Coillte forests. This could have serious implications for our industry as log supply is critically tight and we rely on Coillte’s fortnightly auctions. If the forests were sold to a private investor or foreign institution, this could have a disastrous impact on the regular supply of logs which is crucially important for the survival of the industry.”
The business started in Longford and today also operates sites in Fermoy, Arklow, and Troon and Humbie in Scotland. The profits take account of non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs totalling €4.46m showing earnings before tax amounted to €10.26m.
The filings show that the group’s cost of sales increased by over 50% from €40.3m to €61.9m.
The figures show that the group’s selling and distribution expenses increased from €10m to €12.5m last year with administrative expenses increasing from €4.1m to €4.9m.
The filings confirm that the company’s operating profits increased by 40% from €4.3m to €6m.
The filings show that the company had 268 in production; 56 in administration and 18 in selling and administration.
The aggregate payroll costs increased last year from €9.2m to €10.5m this year.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
