SWS success continues onwards and upwards

SWS Group, the leading diversified services provider, is continuing its pattern of growth and expansion, it was revealed yesterday.

The group, based in Bandon, Co Cork, announced pretax profits of almost €2.8m on turnover of €15.4m, a slight increase on the previous year.

Chief executive Kieran Calnan said he was satisfied with the strong financial performance.

Significant resources had been invested in researching and developing new areas of business, which would help continue successful development in future years.

Renewable energy, business process outsourcing and business services present significant opportunities for the group.

Mr Calnan said operations and geographic focus had expanded considerably due to an ambitious diversification strategy, resulting in employment reaching 250 full-time and another 250 contract and part-time employees.

Forestry continued to contribute significantly to the group's profitability while the environmental business grew significantly.

Mr Calnan said the group's renewable energy unit has significant potential. Ireland's international obligations under the Kyoto agreement will result in developments in this area.

SWS is positioning itself strongly to be a significant player. Wind energy and biomass are two areas into which resources have been invested.

A number of wind projects are at an advanced stage of development while biomass projects are also being progressed.

"We see particular opportunities in this field over the next five to 10 years and have put significant effort into positioning ourselves to be able to capitalise on these opportunities.

"Our focus has moved from being advisers in projects of this nature to being stakeholders and where necessary we will link up with strategic partners to achieve our ambitious goals.

"We currently have planning for 42mw of wind capacity which has the potential to power up to 30,000 homes and we hope to build on this in the coming months," he said.

The business process outsourcing division, which provides services to major clients in the public and private sectors, again performed strongly and secured additional contracts.

Further opportunities are currently being explored in the Irish and British markets and a significant investment in scanning technology should help open up new areas of business, he said.