Pre-tax profits down 9% Harney’s insurance firm

Pre-tax profits last year at the insurance firm where former Tánaiste, Mary Harney serves as a director decreased by 9% to €20.7m while directors’ pay almost trebled.

Ms Harney was appointed to the board of Dublin-based Euro Insurances Ltd in February 2012.

New accounts show that the firm’s revenues from gross premium revenues in the 12 months to the end of December increased from €151.4m to €157.6m.

Ms Harney is one of five board members on the Dutch-owned firm that paid €19m in dividends last year.

The former Progressive Democrats leader serves as one of four non-executive directors and one executive director, Fuzail Nisar who stepped down at the end of last year to be replaced by Hessel Kaastra.

The accounts show that emoluments for executive and non-executive directors at Euro Insurance Ltd last year increased almost threefold from €571,274 to €1.56m.

No breakdown is provided of the amount received by each director, but Ms Harney is likely to receive far less for her role as an independent non-executive director than the company’s executive director UK national Fuzail Nisar.

The principal activity of the firm is the insuring and reinsuring of motor damage and third-party liability risk of group companies and third party clients.

The figures show that the firm had a 30% reduction in its Irish business going from €5.3m to €3.68m last year.

The directors state that for 2015 “the company is to continue its operations in existing markets with existing customers and will investigate additional opportunities in new and existing territories in line with the company and group insurance strategy”.

The figures show that the firm’s accumulated profits stood at €77m last year with total shareholder funds standing at €88m.

The firm’s cash stood at €218m. Numbers employed by the firm last year increased from 43 to 44.

Staff costs last year went up from €5.1m to €5.8m.

A breakdown of the company’s revenues shows that the firm’s biggest market is Italy after increasing the amount generated from gross written premiums from €22.94m to €27.7m.