Investment firm lost €6.6m before receiver appointment

AN investment company controlled by developer Sean Lyne recorded a loss of €6.6 million in 2010 before a receiver was appointed, new data shows.

Accounts recently filed by Frontline Asset Management Ltd show that the firm recorded the loss after the writedown of fixed, current and financial assets in the 12 months to the end of December 2010.

NAMA appointed Kieran Wallace of KPMG to a selection of property owned by the company last March.

The appointment of Mr Wallace relates to property at Liffey Valley in Dublin.

However, Mr Lyne has been involved in a number of ill-fated projects in the Mid-West. He was one of the backers — along with Bernard McNamara — for a €350m shopping quarter in Ennis that involved the purchase of the GAA county grounds at Cusack Park in 2008.

Work on the project never commenced after councillors opted to retain Cusack Park as open space, while Mr Lyne joined with Limerick developers, John Shee and Joe Hanrahan in unsuccessful €100m plans to convert the 270-acre Tinerana estate on the shores of Lough Derg into a tourism resort.

Mr Lyne is a co-owner of Piran Properties Ltd that owns Tinerana Ltd that purchased the estate from Dr Paschal Carmody and his wife, Dr Frieda Keane Carmody, in a multi-million euro deal in 2006.

An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission to the development after An Taisce objected to the plan.

Mr Lyne also purchased large tracts of land around Ennis during the building boom and today much of the land remains idle.

Abridged accounts for Frontline Asset Management Ltd show the company wrote down €3.7m in current assets, €3.5m in financial assets and €984,879 in fixed assets.

The writedowns reduced the firm’s accumulated profits from €7.2m to €637,279 at the end of December 2010.

The company’s cash reduced from €228,604 to €85,418.

In the auditor’s report, dated September 23 last, Cuddihy & Co states that the loss “indicates the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern”.

The note states: “The directors are in regular negotiations with the company’s bankers regarding the repayment of outstanding loan balances.”