A €12.7 MILLION property writedown pushed Airspace Investments Limited, the company behind the well-known Rohan construction group, €9 million into the red last year.
Accounts just filed at the Companies Registration Office show that turnover at the construction group fell to €12.5 million in the 12 months to the end of November 2009 from €38.5 million the previous year. This compares to revenues of €63.8 million recorded in the 2007 financial year.
Operating profits at the company more than halved in the year, from €11.6 million in 2008, to €5 million last year.
The accounts cover the 12- month period directly preceding the resignation last December of company founder Ken Rohan as managing director of the company. Mr Rohan, who was replaced by his son James, remains a majority shareholder and director of the business.
The group’s sharp decline in turnover was largely attributable to a fall in property sales which dropped from €29 million in 2008, to €3.9 million last year the accounts show. Some 95 per cent of the company’s turnover related to activities in Ireland, with the remainder taking place in the UK and Barbados.
The group benefited from an exceptional gain of €12 million during the year as a result of settling a long-term debt obligation 10 years in advance of the payment date. However, this was offset by a net loss of €6.3 million as a result of a revaluation of other investments.
The accounts show that the group’s closing shareholder funds stood at €141.3 million at 30 November 2009, down slightly from shareholders funds of €150.5 million at the close of the previous year.
A dividend of €2.5 million was paid during the year.
The Rohan construction group is best known for its development of Grand Canal Plaza, the site of the old International Meat Packers site on Grand Canal Street, Dublin, which is now home to a series of apartment and office developments, including the Irish headquarters of BT and Accenture.
Other projects include Dublin AirPort Logistics Park and the Airways Industrial Estate in Santry, North Dublin.
According to the directors’ report attached to the accounts, the directors are “satisfied the group’s financial strength will enable it to respond to suitable opportunities when the economic environment demonstrates signs of underlying improvement”.
It adds that despite the €12 million writedown in the value of its property portfolio, the group’s net debt/gearing ratio is 23 per cent, a figure it describes as “conservative”, noting that it expects this to be reduced to 18 per cent by the end of the current year.
