Sisk holding company’s accounts set to show profitability return

Irish construction firm Sicon — the holding company for the Sisk group’s construction assets — has said its 2012 accounts will show a return to profitability, after it incurred a pre-tax loss of €153.6m in 2011.

The loss came about chiefly on the back of the high-profile failure of its road building project in Poland. Latest annual accounts for Sicon Limited, covering 2011 (technically, the 13 months to Jan 31, 2012) show an increase in group turnover from €878.2m to €1bn. However, a pre-exceptional operating loss of €3.4m was also reported and the pre-tax profit of €9m generated in 2010 gave way to pre-tax losses of €153.6m.

This was down to two exceptional items — a one-off non-cash loss of €49.1m from the demerging/sale of the group’s healthcare interests to Sisk Healthcare Group, and a €98m cumulative loss on the company’s Polish interests.