McInerney profit unchanged as conditions slow

Profits at listed house-builder McInerney treaded water last year as conditions in Ireland and Britain slowed.

McInerney said yesterday that sales were €632.8 million in 2007, less than half a per cent ahead of the previous year, when it turned over €630.1 million.

Profit before tax was €58 million, virtually the same as the €58.1 million reported in 2006.

The group, which had a five-for-one stock split in 2007, said that earnings per share (eps) were 23.94 cent, 15 per cent below the 28.04 returned in 2006. McInerney said it adjusted its eps to take the split into account.

The company intends declaring a full-year dividend of six cent per share, a 7 per cent increase on the 5.6 cent paid to shareholders for 2006.

McInerney's figures show that Ireland delivered profits of €55.7 million in 2007, an increase of 3 per cent. Profits in Britain increased 20 per cent to €27 million, while those from its Spanish business dropped 85 per cent to €611,000.

The group's costs were up 7 per cent at €8.6 million, while net interest grew 10 per cent to just short of €18 million, leaving it with the pre-tax surplus of €58 million.

McInerney said €20.3 million of its Irish profits came from selling land not needed for house building. The comparable figure in 2006 was €1.3 million.

Chief executive Barry O'Connor said the sale of land would be a part of the group's overall business in the future.

Profits from the sale of houses in Ireland dropped 33 per cent to €33.2 million from €49.4 million. The number of homes that the company sold fell to 594 from 1,025.

In the UK, the company said that profits from the sale of houses grew 56 per cent to €16.2 million. Earnings from the sale of land contracted by 71 per cent to €1 million.