NCT firm had profits of €44.2m in 10 years

THE COMPANY that operated the Government’s national car test programme until last December generated pretax profits of €44 million on revenues of €295 million in the past 10 years.

In accounts recently filed with the Companies Office, Swiss-owned Vicuna Ltd (formerly National Car Testing Service Ltd) reported pretax profits of €8.7 million in 2009.

The company won the contract to operate the Government’s national car testing programme in 1999. A study of the company’s accounts between 1999 and 2009 shows that the company generated profits of €44.2 million on a turnover of €295.3 million during the period.

Vicuna’s lucrative contract expired on December 23rd last year after it was beaten into second place by Spanish multinational testing and services group Applus RTD in the tendering process run by the Road Safety Authority for a new 10-year contract.

Vicuna operated 43 NCT centres across the State and, last year, employed 518 people, with a wage bill of €20.9 million.

A study of Vicuna Ltd’s returns since 1999 shows that the company incurred losses of €5 million connected with start-up costs in 1999 and 2000. However, the figures show that in 2001, the company secured a pretax profit of €857,000 rising to €5.8 million in 2005, 2006, and 2008.

Last year, Vicuna enjoyed a 50 per cent increase in pretax profits to €8.7 million after revenues increased from €42 million to €43.4 million.

The NCT was introduced on January 4th, 2000, complying with an EU directive. The standard rate for an NCT today is €50.

Statistics show that in 2009, Vicuna carried out 864,376 tests with a 51 per cent pass rate.