Glen Electric pretax profit more than doubles to €99.5m

Pretax profit at Glen Electric, the Northern Ireland company which accounts for about a third of the business of the Glen Dimplex group, more than doubled to £74.8 million sterling (€99.5 million) in the year to March 31st, 2007, new figures show.

The profit was boosted by a gain of £18.1 million on the sale of some assets, according to accounts just filed for Glen Electric. Turnover at the Co Down-based company, the largest Irish firm within the electrical heating and appliance sector to reveal its annual figures, rose 13 per cent to £798 million.

Operating profit rose to £64.6 million from £42 million, representing an operating profit margin of 8 per cent, up from 6 per cent a year earlier. The company's cash reserves rose to £42.5 million from £19.6 million. It had retained profits of £139.4 million at March 31st, 2007, up from £92.2 million a year earlier.

Glen Dimplex is based in the Republic, but its overall parent company is unlimited and therefore does not file accounts.

According to the company's website, Glen Dimplex employs 8,500 people and has annual sales of more than €1.5 billion. Its brands include well-known household names such as Morphy Richards, Roberts and Goblin. The group is owned by Co Louth businessman Martin Naughton. Its chief executive Sean O'Driscoll declined to comment on the Glen Electric results.

The 2007 accounts show during the year the group purchased stakes it did not already own in two subsidiaries - 35 per cent of Glen Dimplex Australasia and 35 per cent of Glen Dimplex Japan.

Glen Electric said that among the risks facing the business were increasing consumer demands and shorter product lives. It is also selling products through a smaller number of key retailers, while supermarkets are increasingly buying directly from suppliers, mostly in the Far East.

The company said in its accounts that it was susceptible to exchange rate fluctuations and that its significant currency flows in euro and US dollars were not "naturally hedged". Some 84 per cent of its turnover comes from Europe, with the remainder from North America and the rest of the world.

It employed 5,631 people in 2007, roughly the same as the previous year, and its annual wages bill amounted to £128.8 million. Directors' emoluments came to £623,000, up from £456,000. The highest paid director earned £364,000 during the year.