Sisk Group posts €82m in pretax profits

The Republic's biggest building and civil engineering company made almost €82 million in profits last year, according to the latest figures.

Sisk Group, which specialises in large-scale construction projects, said yesterday that it turned over €1.67 billion in 2006, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year, when revenues topped €1.4 billion.

Operating profits rose 6.2 per cent to €72.4 million over the same period. Its earnings before tax were €81.8 million, which represented a 15.2 per cent growth over 2005.

Sisk also revealed yesterday that the healthcare products and distribution division, which it has been developing over the last 15 months, is on target to have sales approaching €100 million this year, and is likely to begin contributing to the group's bottom line.

The business, part of the group's trading, healthcare, property and investment division, bought three companies this year.

These were Fonthill, Dublin-based Tekno Surgical, which supplies orthopaedic anaesthetics and surgical equipment; Beaver Medical in Northampton, England which supplies electro-cardiogram (ECG) and other heart monitoring equipment; and Synapse Medical, which specialises in equipment used for diagnosing heart, lung and neurological problems.

Trade magazine Construction recently rated Sisk Group as the Republic's biggest building company by turnover. The group is involved in a number of high-profile public and commercial projects.

Its contracting arm, John Sisk & Son Ireland, will be the main contractor on the National Conference Centre in Spencer Dock, Dublin.

This division is also building the Centocor pharmaceutical facility in Cork and is involved in a range of similar projects around the country. The contracting business was responsible for €1.2 billion of last year's turnover, the group said yesterday.

John Sisk & Son Civil Engineering, which focuses on managing the design and building of infrastructure projects such as roads and public transport, had a turnover of €100 million last year, up from €65 million in 2005.

Bernard O'Connell, executive chairman of group construction, said he expected infrastructure, commercial and retail developments to drive future growth.

"Even though the last of the major roads linking the cities are being tendered or have been tendered, there is still a huge potential spend in areas like rail transport, port development and other areas," he said.

"It could be up to €25 billion over the next couple of years."

He added that the co-location programme, which will see private hospitals built on the same sites as public facilities, will also offer opportunities. Liam Nagle, executive chairman Sisk Group trading, healthcare, property and investment, said it was unlikely to seek more acquisitions in the healthcare area, and would instead focus on boosting growth. "We went looking for family-owned, entrepreneurial businesses, and we chose healthcare because of under investment, and because as the population gets older, there will be more demand for their products," he said.

The group began investing in the sector to diversify its business. It already owns electrical goods distributor Origo, whose brands include Blaupunkt and Toshiba.

In a statement yesterday, Sisk Group said it is actively seeking high-quality acquisition opportunities.

"In 2007, the construction division has already successfully completed a number of large projects within Ireland and is benefiting from buoyant activity in southern England."

Members of the Sisk family ultimately control the Sisk Group.