Bennett Construction revenues hit by pandemic

Company directors said the decline in revenues was due to the continued impact of covid, with lockdowns causing supply chain issues resulting in delays of completion of contracts.

Bennett Construction suffered a hit of €85m in revenues last year, due mainly to the continuing fallout from the pandemic. 

New accounts show that the revenues and profits fall sharply at Bennett Construction in the 12 months to the end of March last year. 

The accounts for Bennett Construction Ltd show that pre-tax profits slid almost 80% to €1.2m. 

The firm provides services to residential projects and also has a large number of commercial clients in information technology, health, retail, and industrial sectors. It paid a dividend of €3m last year.

Covid fallout causes issues

In the accounts, the directors said that the decline in revenues was due to the continued impact of covid, with lockdowns both at home and abroad causing supply chain issues resulting in delays of completion of contracts.

They also said there had been considerable delays in the start times for new projects by clients. 

However, they expected "a considerable increase in revenue in the current year and beyond”. 

The group last year availed of Government grants under the pandemic schemes of €160,750 last year, and of €617,356 in 2021.

The accounts show that its Irish revenues fell 35% to  €91.6m last year. 

Its revenues from the rest of Europe also fell, by 42% to €48.4m. 

Staff numbers directly employed by the company fell from 132 people to 122 people, and staff costs fell slightly to €10.7m. Directors’ pay for the year was unchanged at €1m. 

A note attached to the accounts states that during the year “the company provided construction services to two of the directors. The costs incurred on these projects during the year amounted to €1.74m”.