Seán Quinn departs Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited

Packaging and construction products group Quinn Industrial Holdings Limited (QIHL) has struck an agreement for its founder Seán Quinn to step down from his job as a consultant to the firm, but it appears to have kept the door open to the involvement of Quinn family members.

QIHL and Seán Quinn separately issued statements yesterday which called time on a strained relationship between the former tycoon and QIHL directors, but which descended into acrimony after Mr Quinn returned as a consultant to the firm just over a year ago.

His departure brings an end to the direct involvement of Mr Quinn with his former sprawling building products-insurance-and property empire. His family lost control of the empire during the crisis.

However, it appears Quinn family members could participate at some sort of level in QIHL, sometime in the future.

“As time has progressed it has become evident that Seán’s expectations for his role and the ownership structure of QIHL are at odds with the strategic direction of the businesses,” QIHL directors said.

“Accordingly, it has been mutually agreed between the parties that QIHL’s consultancy arrangement with Seán Quinn and Seán Quinn Jnr will be discontinued, albeit Seán will have continued access to office facilities for his own personal use.

"The board of QIHL is pleased that it has been possible to reach agreement on this matter and we were keen that staff should hear the news directly from the company,” QIHL said.

QIHL, which controls 12 operations and employs 743 people in counties Fermanagh, Cavan and Longford, as well as in Kent in England, was bought in late 2014 by New York and Connecticut-based investment funds, Brigade Capital, Contrarian Capital and Silver Point.

The funds own up to 80% of QIHL.

Last month, QIHL said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose to €16.6m in 2015 from €6.2m in the previous year.

QIHL said it swung back to a pre-profit of €5.9m before exceptional charges and posted a net profit of around €3m in 2015, compared with a pre-tax loss of €14.6m loss in 2014.

Sales rose 25% to €202.7m. Yesterday, QIHL said it “continues to perform well”.

It is taking “advantage of the recovering Irish economy as well as strong and continuing demand from the UK construction market”, it said.