Losses continue to mount at bookseller Kenny’s
Accounts lodged by Kenny’s Bookshops and Art Galleries (Holdings) Ltd with the Companies’ Office show the family- owned firm recorded a loss of €327,780 in the year to the end of Dec 2011.
However, the losses reduced sharply on the €1.82m loss incurred in 2010. A note with the accounts states “results for 2012 to date and projections for future periods indicate an improved trading position”.
The business was established by Des and Maureen Kenny in 1940. President Michael D Higgins has been a long-time friend of the Kenny family.
The accumulated losses at the end of Dec 2011 totalled €8.2m while the firm owed €7.4m in bank loans and overdrafts.
The firm had a shareholders’ deficit of €6.6m.
According to a note addressing the firm’s going concern status, “the directors continue to monitor and pursue new business and sales opportunities and anticipate that these will increase revenue and reduce losses in the future”.
The note adds: “The directors have conducted a strategic review of the company’s operations and as a result have implemented changes to curtail loss-making activities and they continue to implement a cost-cutting programme.”
“Discussions with the company’s bankers regarding potential disposal of the company’s properties and refinancing opportunities are ongoing.
“The directors anticipate that the bankers may provide a further period of grace to allow the company to explore refinancing and investment options”.
The note confirms that “the economic downturn has negatively impacted the value of the company’s properties. The directors anticipate that these may increase in the medium to long-term, thereby strengthening the company’s balance sheet”.
The note also confirms that “while the company has breached the terms of its banking facilities resulting in those facilities being classified as repayable within one year, it has kept its bankers fully informed of development and actual and projected results for 2012 onwards”.
In 2010, 70 Irish writers, including Eugene McCabe, Jennifer Johnston, Theo Dorgan and Dermot Healy took part in the celebration of Kenny’s being 70 years in business.
In 1994 Kenny’s became the second bookshop in the world to go online with www.Kennys.ie
