One doesn't have to be a genius to know that the motor trade has done pretty well out of the economic boom, and financial results for 1997 from O'Flaherty Holdings, the importers of Volkswagen, Audi and other marques, show that the family-owned car importer had done extraordinarily well.

No profit figures yet for 1998, but figures in the April issue of Private Research show that in 1997 O'Flaherty boosted profits by more than 50 per cent to in excess of £30 million (€38.09 million), with sales up from £281 million to more than £375 million.

Shareholders, mainly the O'Flaherty family interests, did well with the dividend doubled to £2 million, while the eight directors - half of them O'Flahertys - received almost £1.6 million remuneration.

Also in Private Research are results for Birmayne for the year to April 1998. Birmayne is the holding company for Ged Pierce's various building and civil engineering interests. And very well they did too in the year with profits up from a negligible £287,000 to almost £2.9 million, even though turnover fell back from £116 million to £84 million.

Ged Pierce seems to have gone for higher margin work during that year, with operating margins doubling to more than 7 per cent.