Car-clamping firm in the red after €621k loss

The largest car-clamping firm in the country plunged into the red in 2012 to record pre-tax losses of €621,629.

New figures just filed with the Companies Office show that Nationwide Controlled Parking Systems Ltd went into the red as revenues reduced by 5% from €10.29m to €9.8m in the 12 months to the end of August 31, 2012.

The pre-tax loss in 2012 follows a pre-tax profit of €327,025 in 2011.

Nationwide Controlled Parking Systems (NCPS) Ltd manages 65,000 car park spaces in 850 sites across the country and its clients include Irish Rail, Dublin City Council, Aldi and Superquinn.

The accounts filed show that a major contributor to the pre-tax loss was a provision of €478,514 against amounts owed by group companies.

The directors state that gross profit margins reduced from 35% to 29% in the year, contributing to an overall operating loss of €56,644 compared to an operating profit of €433,063.

According to the directors’ report “the directors are hopeful the levels of parking management services can be maintained and the difficult overall market conditions should still allow for the company to operate profitably in the coming years”.

The firm had a shareholders’ deficit at the end of Aug 2012 of €1.868m.