Engineering firm cuts losses at Irish division as revenue rises to €15.9m

Pre-tax losses at the Irish arm of consultancy engineering firm Mott McDonald last year narrowed sharply as revenues increased by 24% to €15.9m.

In accounts just filed with the Companies Office, pre-tax losses at the UK-owned Mott McDonald Ireland Ltd reduced by 76% from €2.2m to €529,019 in the 12 months to the end of Dec 2012.

The firm has worked on the Government’s inter-urban motorway programme and the Luas in Dublin.

According to the directors’ report “after a number of difficult trading years the results for 2012 were much improved on previous years”.

Initiatives put in place in 2010 to reduce costs and position the company to trade more successfully continued in 2011 and 2012.

Securing a significant flood programme in Ireland along with energy projects in Mauritius, Bermuda and the UK and a major transportation project in Norway, have all made a positive impact on trade.

“The forward order book for the next 12 months is relatively good with almost 81% of the 2013 budget contracted. Business remains challenging, but the directors and our parent company are confident that 2013 should see a further improvement in our financial performance.”

The directors say they “are satisfied” with the group’s performance.

The figures show that the firm’s loss is attributable to a €721,000 write off in goodwill. Shareholders’ deficit increased from €900,713 to €2.237m with an actuarial loss of €868,000 on the firm’s pension scheme contributing to the loss.

Staff costs reduced from €10.25m to €8.8m, with remuneration for the seven directors reducing from €1m to €845,022.

Cost of sales increased from €7.3m to €10.61m with administrative expenses decreasing from €7.7m to €6.2m.