John Paul suffers 30% fall in profit

John Paul Holdings, the building firm known for its work on high-profile projects such as the Leinster House extension and the Civic Offices at Wood Quay, Dublin, has reported a 30 per cent drop in pretax profits.

Group turnover was down to €163 million for the year ended December 2005, from €171 million in the previous year. This was a fall of almost 5 per cent. While costs were trimmed to €155 million from €162 million, it was not enough to offset the fall in revenues.

The company, which hit the headlines last December after it was disclosed it had paid for the painting of Ivor Callely TD's house in Clontarf in the early 1990s, posted a pretax profit of €3.6 million, down from the €5.2 million achieved in the previous year.

Net profit was down from approximately €4.5 million to €3.2 million. The company says in its profit and loss accounts that it regards net profit as the "key financial performance metric".

Another key metric for building firms - tangible assets - improved strongly for the company, up to €14.5 million from €7.2 million in the previous year. Tangible assets for building firms usually refers to land and buildings. The company's cash balances were also healthy in the year under review, rising to €24 million from €21.6 million.

The company's average number of employees during the year was 326, down from 373 the year before. The company's wages bill shrunk as a result, to €19.8 million from €22.6 million.

The company had a range of joint ventures during the period with other construction companies, such as John Laing Construction and PJ Hegarty Ltd. It also had a 33 per cent stake in Diamond Leather, a textile company. John Paul has advanced this company €793,000 at year end.

The annual return for John Paul Holdings lists four director shareholders, Eamonn Booth, Donal O'Brien, Conor O'Donnell and Donal Winters, who hold 880 "A" ordinary shares between them. A company called Passfield owns 120 "B" ordinary shares and is listed in the accounts as a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary of John Paul Holdings.