Lisney ‘trading exceptionally well’ as restrictions ease

Property services firm Lisney said it has "been trading exceptionally well" as Covid restrictions have eased and the vaccine rollout has continued.

Managing director of Lisney David Byrne said the business has "strong year-on-year forecasted growth when compared to previous pre-Covid years".

Mr Byrne was commenting on new accounts which show that pretax profits plunged by 92 per cent to €115,676 in the 12 months to the end of March 2020.

This came as revenues declined by 19 per cent from €14.87 million to €12 million. On the financial performance of the company to the end of March 2021, Mr Byrne said revenues declined by 15 per cent.

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He said the company is satisfied with the 2021 fiscal year financial performance which included the revenue decline “in the context of the significant external challenges in place”.

He said: “The business is on a very strong financial footing and we are extremely well placed to implement our ambitious plans for growth and development of the business in the years ahead.”

The new accounts show that six directors at Lisney stepped down from the board of the firm late last year following a detailed review of governance arrangements at the firm.

Mr Byrne explained: “Our governance review took place as part of reassessing our business strategy to ensure we were on the best possible footing for growth in the years ahead.”

Board size

The company reduced the size of its board to five and appointed James Menton, formerly of KPMG, as a non-executive chairman "to ensure a very focused governance model which is completely aligned with our revised ambitious targets for growth of the business in the years ahead", said Mr Byrne.

He added that he is “very pleased” with the new governance arrangements.

Ten directors stepped down from the board across 2020 and Mr Byrne said: “We had two directors who stepped down during 2020 wishing to pursue other areas of interest . . . All other directors who stepped down, most of whom are shareholders of the business, remain in their executive roles within the business and continue to play an important role.”

Numbers employed by Lisney last year reduced from 116 to 112 as staff costs declined by 24 per cent from €10.64 million to €8.11 million.

Directors’ pay fell from €3.69 million to €2.01 million.