Irish Ferry group set for further growth

Ferries and freight business Irish Continental Group (ICG) is anticipating further strong revenue and earnings growth this year, largely thanks to lower oil prices, after reporting a strong showing for 2014.

The Irish Ferries owner yesterday reported group revenues of €290.1m for last year, up by 9.6% on the previous 12 months.

Earnings before tax grew by 2.6% to €50.5m, and operating profits before non-trading items were up by 9% to €32.7m. There was also a 108% jump in basic earnings per share to 30.4c, and the final dividend of just over 7c per share is 5% ahead of 2013.