Dublin Providers profit climbs 30% despite pandemic uncertainty

Profits at builders' merchant chain Dublin Providers Ltd (DPL) climbed 30 per cent last year to €3 million despite fears about the impact of Covid-19.

Accounts filed by the group show sales fell to €51.17 million last year from €54.14 million in 2019.

Pre-tax profits rose 30 per cent to €3 million in 2020 from €2.3 million the previous year, aided by a fall in costs to €48.1 million from €51.8 million.

DPL sells timber, heating and plumbing supplies, electrical equipment, fittings and other materials to builders and the general public.

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The chain has stores in Kilmainham and Dún Laoghaire in Dublin, and eight other sites around the Republic, in Cork, Galway and Waterford as well as key regional centres.

Chairman Jeremiah Maher and managing director John Peare, say in their directors' report that they continue to monitor the ongoing Covid-19 situation and "expect a positive impact on turnover in 2021 compared to 2020".

Risks

Last year the directors warned that Covid lockdowns posed considerable risks and uncertainties to the business, which shut between mid-March and May 2020 for all but essential services.

Their report for 2020 points out that the Government imposed the strictest level of lockdown in October last year and again at the end of December. Restrictions began to ease in the second quarter of 2021, the report notes.

Employee numbers dipped to 182 from 185. DPL’s wages, pension and welfare bill fell €1 million to €4.7 million, mainly due to a fall in total salaries to €4.2 million from €5 million, and a €200,000 slip in welfare costs.

The accounts state the figure includes a credit of €1.35 million relating to support received from the Government’s temporary wage subsidy scheme, paid to companies that kept workers on their payroll during the crisis.

DPL’s balance sheet shows that the group ended 2020 with €39.5 million in net assets, against €36.8 million 12 months earlier.