THE ESTATE agents Sherry Fitz-Gerald made a pretax loss of €15.5 million in 2008, a year it described as “exceptionally difficult and challenging” in accounts just filed.
The group said the residential sales aspect of its business experienced “very difficult trading conditions” with both house prices and the number of sales falling significantly.
The group’s commercial property arm, DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, saw its revenue drop by 36 per cent, “principally as a result of the drop in land and investment transactions caused by the lack of liquidity in the market and falling occupier demand”.
The accounts say the directors are continuing to grow the “non-transactional side of the commercial business”.
They said both aspects of business were hit by “the severity of the economic recession caused by local and international factors. The global credit crunch that came to people’s attention in the second half of 2007 developed into a full-scale banking crisis during 2008, which had serious negative ramifications for the group’s businesses.”
Sherry FitzGerald had 94 member offices at the end of 2008. During the year it reduced the number of staff in its Irish business by 30 per cent and sold some assets to ensure it had sufficient working capital and resources. It also paid down debt.
“The difficult market conditions continued into 2009 but the directors believe that the significant reduction in the group’s cost base together with the diversified nature of the group’s businesses will see the group return to profitability as markets improve,” the accounts state.
Turnover for 2008 was €39.97 million, down from €64.95 million the previous year, when pretax losses were €3.79 million. Residential business created turnover of €28 million while commercial property business generated €11.83 million. Wages for 2008 were €33.3 million, down from €44.4 million the previous year.
At the end of 2008, the group had accumulated losses of €1.8 million, compared to accumulated profits of €11 million a year earlier.
During the year the group sold its share of Signature Capital to its joint venture partners and generated a profit of €1.68 million, according to the accounts. The costs associated with the sale were €176,000.
The accounts also state that on June 4th, 2008, the group made a loan of €2.1 million to Signature Capital. At year’s end the outstanding balance was €1.77 million.
Fourteen directors held shares during the year, with the largest shareholder being Mark FitzGerald. The next largest shareholder was Philip Sherry.
Directors’ emoluments were nil.
