Shannon Development reports €5.6m loss

Shannon Development has reported an loss of €5.6 million for 2008 due to a fall-off in rental income and lower revenues from asset sales.

The State-owned company made a profit of €732,000 in 2007, according to its annual report published today.

Shannon Development manages a large portfolio of State-owned industrial property in the region which stretches from south Offaly to Kerry.

It also operates the Shannon Free Zone (SFZ) and a number of tourism attractions such as Bunratty Castle through its subsidiary companies.

The company has been largely self-financing since the 1990s although it receives a small annual grant from the Department of Tourism.

Revenues fell slightly to €33.7 million last year from €34 million 12 months earlier while income from tourism fell from €14.5 million in 2007 to €12.8 million in 2008.

Visitor numbers at tourism attractions in the region dropped 11 per cent to 409,915 people in 2008. There has been a 20 per cent fall in visitors over the last 3 years.

It also reported a loss of €6.3 million in ordinary activities compared to a loss of just €650,000 a year ago.

The agency said net employment among the 100 firms in the SFZ rose by 108 to 7,107 last year with the creation of 576 new jobs. It said the cost of creating or sustaining a job in the zone last year was €6,720.

The biggest jobs announcement there last year was the creation of 250 jobs by US-based orthopaedics manufacturer Zimmer as part of a €50 million Shannon Development supported investment.

Shannon Development operates 57 business parks in the region in which 172 companies are based employing 3,200 people.

Chief executive Dr Vincent Cunnane said businesses were operating in an “unprecedented economic environment” and that ensuring each part of the region was developed to its full potential was the best way of taking advantage of the upturn when it arrives.

He said the agency would publish a new strategic plan in the autumn covering its targets and focus for the next four years and added that a regional development approach was the most “integrated and effective way of getting things done”.

Firms in the SFZ increased their research and development spending by 10 per cent to €44 million.

The company had tangible assets of €125 million at the end of last year, almost unchanged from 2007.

Staff costs over the period rose to €14.5 million in 2008 up from €14 million a year earlier with 138 people employed directly by Shannon Development, unchanged from 2007. A further 197 are employed by its subsidiaries.

A spokesman said employee numbers had fallen from approximately 190 three years ago as the company sought to reorganise.