Yeoman group's profits hit €2m on land sales

Pretax profits have risen strongly to over €2 million at Paul Coulson's Yeoman International group on the back of property and land sales.

The company, which was founded in 1982, has stakes in several Irish companies and the firm was in the running to make a bid for Eircom in 2001. Its ultimate parent is Yeoman International Holdings, registered in Luxembourg.

The accounts ended February 28th, 2006, show pretax profits rising from €41,000 to €2.1 million. After tax profits came in at just over €2 million. The profit carried forward was €8.5 million, up from €6.4 million. Carried forward profits refer to profits after account has been taken of dividends and reserves.

The company's main activities comprise international asset financing and investment holding. Yeoman holds a major stake, about 23 per cent in South Wharf, the former Irish Glass Bottle company.

The balance sheet for the company shows that intergroup balances stood at €9.2 million, up from €6.8 million the year before. In total, Yeoman had net current assets - or working capital - of €9.2 million. The company appears to be in strong financial shape, with reserves of €9.9 million built up.

The accounts state: "The main activity of the company during the year was disposing of its land and buildings." No dividend is going to be paid. Five directors, including chairman and chief executive Mr Coulson, served on the board during the year under review. The accounts show that Mr Coulson had the lion's share of the equity in the company.

Mr Coulson's other main business interest Ardagh Glass Group, the glassmaker spun off from Ardagh plc in 2003, has been finding trading difficult recently, reporting a loss of €35.8 million for 2005 and warning of "very tough" trading conditions.

Mr Coulson, who is chairman of Ardagh Glass Group, told the company's agm in May that the group's main problems were in the UK, where "hugely increased" energy costs had combined with overcapacity.