4,200 firms may be struck off company register

Three publicly quoted companies and a number associated with plcs are among the 4,200 names on a list published in Iris Oifigiuil of companies which may be struck off if they do not file their annual returns within one month.

Companies on the list, which was prepared in late April, were warned a month earlier by the Companies Registration Office that failure to file annual returns would lead to their being struck off. A month after being listed, companies which have still not complied will be struck off.

The list includes Beamish & Crawford plc, Adare Printing Group plc and USIT International plc. It also includes Bula Oil Ltd, associated with Bula Resources plc, and Fyffes Corporate Finance Ltd, associated with Fyffes plc. Two companies associated with Glanbia plc - Waterford Foods International Services Ltd and Snowcream (Wexford) Ltd - are also listed.

A number of well-known privately owned companies are included on the list. Rennicks Sign Manufacturing, the Dublin company part-owned by Fitzwilton, which hit the headlines in 1998 in relation to its payment of £30,000 to Mr Ray Burke on behalf of Fitzwilton in 1989, is among those listed.

So too is The Brandon Hotel Ltd, one of the directors of which is the property developer Mr John Byrne. Last year, the Moriarty tribunal heard that the Kerry Fianna Fail TD, Mr Denis Foley, managed the dancehall at the Brandon Hotel and placed his earnings in an account in the Ansbacher deposits.

Well-known business names listed include Impac Ltd, the international management consultancy firm which sponsors the annual IMPAC literary award, Tesco Trustee Company of Ireland Ltd, Siemens Ltd, SIAC (export) Ltd and SIAC (Asphalt) Ltd, Kilsaran Concrete (Naas) Ltd, Sedgwick Risk Consulting Ltd, Esat @ Home Ltd and Semperit (Sales) Ltd.

Media companies listed include Tribune Publications Ltd, publishers of the Sunday Tribune, and the Donegal Democrat Ltd. The car sales company Joe Duffy (Motors) Ltd, and the undertakers Patrick Massey Ltd are listed, as are Breen Group Hotels (Waterford) Ltd and Dobbins Wine Bistro Ltd.

The list is the first to be published since new regulations obliged companies to file returns within a year rather than two as previously or face the risk of being removed from the register.

Already some of the companies listed have filed their returns.

"While it is possible to have a company restored to the register, it is expensive to do so and may involve proceedings having to be taken in the High Court." A copy of the list is available on the Companies Office website at www.cro.ie