Modern Display Artists closes doors

One of the Republic's largest exhibition and special event display providers, Modern Display Artists Limited (MDA) is to close its doors.

MDA has invited creditors to attend a meeting on June 15th at Taylors Three Rock Hotel, Rathfarnham, Dublin, at 11.30am to propose the voluntary winding up of the company.

MDA will also seek to appoint a liquidator to handle the company's demise.

MDA was founded in Dublin in 1935 to provide services and products to the exhibition and display industry.

It worked with advertising agencies and provided services to a wide range of companies.

The company could not be contacted yesterday.

According to the latest accounts filed at the Companies Office, at the end of December 2004 the amount due to its creditors falling due within one year was €880,751.

It had fixed assets worth €143,567 and showed a deficiency in shareholders' funds of €250,719 compared with a profit of €416,940 in 2003.

The company's directors are listed as Gerald Petrie, Clodagh Petrie and Karin O'Loan.

The company was one of the best-known in this business, designing and building stands for exhibitions and displays for its clients that included hotels, museums and sports events.

Sources within the industry have pointed to the decline in the number of exhibitions in the last decade and high production costs associated with creating the sort of stands it produces.