THE industrial holding company Clashfern, which has interests in the oil, chemical and storage sectors, made a pre-tax profit of £2.8 million last year, according to its chief executive, Mr Gerry McNamara.
Turnover at Clashfern, whose subsidiaries include Campus Oil, Micro Bio, and Barrow Storage, increased by 10 per cent to about £45 million. Mr McNamara said the company was "growing very steadily" and plans to expand through acquisitions in Ireland and Britain.
Mr McNamara revealed that Clashfern is currently carrying out due diligence on an English oil distribution company, and may be in a position to complete a purchase which would be the company's first outside the Republic within three months.
Clashfern is one of a number of companies interested in buying the business in question which is as big as the Irish company's existing oil operation, Mr McNamara said. If the deal goes through it will be a "significant" acquisition, he added.
Mr McNamara said Clashfern had "ambitious plans on paper" for developing the group over the next five years. We are very nicely poised for growth in our three main segments . . . the aspiration is to grow the company significantly," he added.
Documents from Private Research show that Clashfern Holdings made a pre-tax profit of £2.3 million in the year to the end of December 1994, the most recent period for which full accounts have been filed.
The accounts show that the company's turnover for 1994 increased from £36.7 million to £40.8 million, while operating profits were up from £1.9 million to £2.3 million. Distribution costs rose from £1.9 million to £2.2 million while administrative expenses increased from £1.6 million to £1.7 million.
The accounts also reveal that Clashfern paid almost £4.5 million to its shareholders during the year, as 37.2 per cent of its issued share capital was converted into redeemable ordinary shares, which were subsequently redeemed as part of a general reconstruction of the company.
Clashfern's directors, Mr Redmond Brennan, Mr Michael Farrington, Mr Stephen O'Connor, Mr Victor Stafford, and Mr Aidan Byrnes received total remuneration of £17,000 during the year. However, the notes to the accounts show that during 1994 the group paid £247,830 for consultancy services to Gerry McNamara & Associates, a company controlled by Clashfern's founder and chief executive, Mr McNamara.
Clashfern's oil distribution and importation business supplies petrol to about 100 petrol stations, 25 heating distributors and a number of large commercial and industrial users. The chemical division, which includes Micro Bio and Izan Industries, imports and distributes chemicals for a number of European manufacturers, while the storage operation stores heavy fuel, gas, oil, and LPG.
According to the 1994 accounts, the fuel oil and motor spirit division was the group's largest business with a turnover of £32.4 million. The chemical division had a turnover of just over £5 million, while the group's lubricating oil and industrial alcohol divisions both had sales of about £1.5 million.
ACT Venture Capital bought PMPA's 16 per cent stake in Clashfern for £1.9 million early last year in a deal which valued the group at just under £12 million, and has since increased its stake to 25 per cent.
The other shareholders in Clashfern are Stafford Transport (35 per cent), Mr Michael Earrington's company BF Oil Holdings (15 per cent), Lemmvale Holdings, which is owned by Mr McNamara (15 per cent), and Kilmeaden Farms, which is owned by Waterford Foods (10 per cent).
