Big profit increase in last set of results

Irish Continental Group's (ICG)last set of results as a public company showed a sharp upturn in profitability as the benefits of a redundancy programme agreed last year with crew on its routes from Ireland to Britain began to flow.

ICG posted profit before tax of €33.3 million for the year to the end of December 2006, compared with a loss of €15 million in the previous 12 months.

The losses in 2005 were attributable to a €29.1 million redundancy programme agreed with about 485 staff after a long and bitter dispute with Siptu. The staff were replaced with lower-cost agency crew from eastern Europe, and ICG reflagged its ships in Cyprus.

ICG received €4.4 million from the Government in rebates of seafarers' PRSI contributions.

About 50 staff chose not to take the redundancy offered in 2005. ICG said virtually all of these workers have since left the company, receiving €1.9 million in severance in 2006. In addition, ICG recorded a charge of €1.8 million last year in relation to a voluntary severance scheme for some shore-based employees.

Group turnover at the ferry operator rose by 4.6 per cent to €312 million last year. The ferries division accounted for €170 million of this figure, also a rise of 4.6 per cent on the previous year.

Freight was the better performer with volumes in its roll-on/roll-off business up 12.3 per cent during the period. Passenger numbers fell by 6.4 per cent to 1.4 million while car traffic was down by 3.3 per cent to 354,000.

Eamonn Rothwell, ICG's managing director, said passenger traffic has declined by 19 per cent over the past three years. This is a reflection of increased competition from low-fares airlines.