Loyaltybuild — the Co Clare firm that was victim to a “very sophisticated cyber attack” plunged into the red in 2014 to record pre-tax losses of €18m. Loyaltybuild Ltd posted a profit of €1m in 2013.

Six more firms have been added to the list of businesses whose customers’ credit card and personal details were stolen in a hacking attack on web-based company, Loyaltybuild, bringing the total revealed so far to 10.

Four separate investigations are under way after it emerged the number of customers whose personal and credit card details have been stolen from a web-based company has grown to almost 80,000, with thousands more potentially affected.