Doosan’s Irish unit hit with €15m bill over Geith factory closure

An Irish-headquartered unit of construction machinery giant Doosan, which in 2015 recorded a pretax loss of $136 million (€120 million), was hit with a $17 million (€15 million) restructuring bill last year linked to the closure of its Geith International manufacturing facility in Slane, Co Meath.

Doosan, which designs, manufactures and sells a range of machinery including forklifts, dump trucks and mini-excavators, is a South Korean conglomerate that employs close to 40,000 people in 38 countries. Its machinery is sold under a number of brand names including Doosan, Geith and Bobcat.

The group’s Irish-headquartered unit, Doosan Holdings European Limited, which has more than 2,460 employees, is ranked 69th in the Top 1,000 companies in Ireland list in terms of turnover.

Losses narrow

The subsidiary saw losses narrow last year from $136 million to $91.7 million despite revenue falling $196 million, from $1.2 billion to $1.04 billion.

The company recorded an operating loss of $16 million, which included profit on disposal of business of $26 million, which was offset by restructuring charges linked to the closure of manufacturing sites in Ireland and Belgium.

The Geith International facility in Slane, which was established more than 50 years ago, closed in February 2016 after the company decided to shift manufacturing to China and Portugal.

“Ongoing economic issues in the euro zone continue to make operating conditions challenging and the group will continue to review the impact these issues have on its growth plans,” the company said in a note included in with the accounts.

Finance costs decreased to $77 million in 2015, Doosan said, while net liabilities rose to $688,752, compared with $562,933 a year earlier.