Future of White investment firm in doubt

THE RELIANCE of former restaurateur Peter White’s property investment company on continued support from its bankers has cast doubt over its future.

Negotiations between the directors of Dublin Land Securities and its bankers were ongoing when the company’s latest financial statements were approved last month, but no agreement had been reached on the renewal of the company’s loan facilities.

The directors expressed confidence in having the support of the company’s bankers, in a note to the abridged accounts for the year ended July 31st, 2009.

However the company’s auditors said that this matter created a “material uncertainty” which may “cast significant doubt” over the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The company reported a net deficit of €471,482 at July 31st, 2009. The borrowings of Dublin Land Securities and its subsidiaries exceeded €7 million. The company’s bankers are AIB, Bank of Ireland and Bank of Scotland (Ireland).

The financial statements also show that the investment property portfolio of the Dublin Land Securities group lost more than a quarter of its value in 2009, falling from €11.7 million to €8.6 million.

The value of the group’s stock, which includes property trading stock, declined from over €6.6 million to about €4.7 million.

Mr White, the former owner of Whites on the Green, the Dublin restaurant that preceded Shanahan’s on the Green, is a majority shareholder and director of Dublin Land Securities. His son Trevor White, the former publisher of the Dubliner magazine, is also a director of the company.

In 1996, Peter White sold his stake in property investment company Consolidated Land Corporation, saying at the time he believed that too many people were going into property as an investment.

In 1999, he sold his Raglan Road house to Denis O’Brien for almost €9 million. Attempts to contact Dublin Land Securities were unsuccessful.