€6.9m loss for McEvaddy aviation firm

Omega Aviation Services, the Dublin-based aircraft leasing and parts business owned by the McEvaddy brothers, has booked a €6.9 million loss after making a €10 million provision against a loan to a Naas primary care campus that opened in 2008.

Omega Aviation produced a pre-tax profit of €3 million before the provision against the Naas loan, in the year to the end of 2011.

The goup’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on an improvement in operational performance, according to the accounts.

A spokesman said the aviation business was “going alright” and the group would do its best to also grow the Naas business. He did not want to comment further.

The accounts say the company expects to make a profit of approximately €1.3 million in 2012, while another group company, Aero Engines Ireland Ltd, forecasts 2012 profits of approximately €500,000.

Ulick McEvaddy (61), with an address in Dublin, and Desmond McEvaddy (60), with an address in San Antonio, Texas, set up Omega Aviation Services in 1987.

The brothers, and Athy-based property developer Gerry Roche, were behind the €25 million Vista Primary Care Campus project in Naas, Co Kildare, which opened in 2008. The project was originally envisaged as including a private hospital but that part of the plan was not proceeded with.

The 2011 accounts for Omega Aviation Services say that during the year it became apparent that a doubt existed over the recoverability of a €10.1 million intercompany loan it had with Naas Primary Care Campus Ltd, leading to the decision to make a full provision against the amount.

Accumulated group losses of €6.3 million are due to the trading losses of the Naas business, which has been loss-making since incorporation, according to the accounts and has been heavily dependent on the McEvaddys and Omega Aviation for funding.

Turnover for the group in 2011 was €22 million, up from €15.9 million the previous year. The bulk of the turnover came from the leasing and sale of aircraft (€17.6 million, up from €13.1 million the previous year) while, geographically, €7 million (€2.8 million in 2010) of all turnover came from Ireland, slightly more than half a million euro from Europe, and €14.7 million from the rest of the world.

The parent company,which accounts for a substantial proportion of the group income, conducted its activities in dollars, according to the accounts. During the year the group made sales of €11.6 million to the US McEvaddy business, Omega Air Inc, which is not part of the group. Sales to Seven Q Seven LLP, another McEvaddy business in the US, were €1 million.

Turnover from “diagnostic medical centre” was €1.4 million, up from €985,675, while turnover from “pharmacy sales” was €1.7 million, up from €1.38 million.

The group had an average of 59 employees during 2011, at a cost of €3.14 million. The previous year there were 44 employees, at a cost of €2.26 million.

The brothers shared directors’ remuneration of €507,895, approximately the same as the previous year.

Group fixed assets of €10.3 million at year’s end included aircraft engines of €2.7 million, fixtures and equipment of €4 million, plant and machinery of €3.6 million, and investment property of €1.2 million. The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, now in liquidation, held a charge over freehold land and buildings.

Anglo Irish Bank,which was later subsumed into the IBRC, has security over aircraft lease agreements between Omega Aviation Services and Omega Air Inc, which sells in-flight refuelling services to the US and other military clients.

The lease agreements and security also involve an Isle of Man company, Bacchus Aviation Inc, which the accounts describe as an unrelated party. At the end of 2011 Omega Air Inc and Bacchus owed Anglo a combined total of $10 million, the accounts say.

Omega Air, according to its website, has two modified Boeing KC-707s and one McDonnell Douglas KDC-10. The majority of its crew members have a US Air Force background, and key management are all former US Navy aviators.

“We take great pride in flying our aircraft the Navy/Marine Corps way,” the company’s website says.