Irish Broadband records pretax losses of €22.5m

NTR subsidiary Irish Broadband had revenues of €12.1 million in the year to the end of March last, but recorded a pretax loss of €22.5 million, according to accounts recently filed with the Companies Registration Office.

Neil Parkinson, managing director of Irish Broadband, said the accounts reflect the broadband provider's position as a long-term infrastructure play that has invested heavily in building a network. Last April, major shareholders NTR and Kilsaran Concrete Products backed the firm with €25 million in loans. This came on top of €32.5 million they provided as interest-free convertible loans in December 2005.

Mr Parkinson said the company now had enough funding to "see us through to Ebitda and cashflow break even". He declined to say when exactly that would be, but said it was "not that far away".

The accounts show that the company has €33.5 million of assets in the form of property, plant and equipment.

Mr Parkinson said the company has more than 50,000 subscribers. Its network covers 2 million people and is supplemented by a deal to resell Eircom's DSL broadband products which are delivered over traditional phone lines.

"As a result, I would say we have wider coverage then anyone else," said Mr Parkinson.

Irish Broadband employed just over 200 people during the 2006-2007 financial year, who share wages and salaries of €10.08 million.

The three executive directors and five other senior managers received a combined wages and salaries package of just over €2 million.

Infrastructure group NTR is the main shareholder in Irish Broadband, with more than 49 per cent of the shares. Kilsaran has a 38 per cent stake with the remainder of the shares held equally by company founders Paul Doody and Jeremy Nel.

Mr Doody resigned as a director in April, 2007 and the accounts show that €333,000 was paid in compensation for loss of office to a member of the senior management team.