Revenues at Trailfinders' Irish arm fall 9% to €77.9m

REVENUES AT the Irish arm of specialist travel company Trailfinders dropped by 9 per cent from £64.2 million to £61.3 million (€77.9 million) last year, new figures show.

According to accounts just filed with the Companies Office, the Irish business of Trailfinders Group accounted for 10 per cent of Trailfinder’s global revenues of £599.2 million in the 12 months to February 29th of this year.

The consolidated accounts for the UK, Irish and Australian operations do not provide the level of profit recorded by the Irish subsidiary last year.

However, the Irish business contributed to the group recording pre-tax profits of £19 million – a drop of 13 per cent on the pre-tax profits of £22 million recorded in 2011.

The directors’ report confirms that Trailfinders operates two centres in Ireland at Dublin and Cork, where a total of 86 are employed.

The group revenues last year represent a drop of 5 per cent on the revenues of £635 million recorded in fiscal 2011.

Trailfinders also operates in the UK and Australia and the returns show that the company’s UK operation accounted for 85 per cent or £513 million of the company’s business with the Australian sector accounting for 5 per cent of the company’s turnover.

The numbers employed by the group last year dropped from 1,140 to 1,060.

The figures show the group’s profits were boosted by £3.8 million in interest receivable and £919,000 in investment income.

The accounts also record that Trailfinders’ cost of sales decreased by 5 per cent from £552 million to £522 million.

The group’s accumulated profits at the end of February last year stood at £168 million – the group had £83.4 million in cash at the end of the year.

In a directors’ report attached to the accounts, it states that “in consideration of the challenging trading conditions which has continued to persist following the 2008 global financial crisis, the result overall should be seen in a positive light”.

No dividend was paid last year.

The profit last year takes account of £4.3 million in non-cash depreciation costs.

The accounts show that the company’s wage bill increased marginally to £39.8 million