Pre-tax profits at Lisney down 79%

Pre-tax profits at property firm Lisney fell by 79 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March last year. Accounts for the firm show that pre-tax profits at Lisney Ltd declined sharply from €560,132 to €117,872.

This followed its gross profit decreasing by 13 per cent from €8.5 million to €7.4 million.

According to Lisney’s managing director James Nugent, non-cash items including a provision of €432,144 for an impairment on an inter-company loan and a €150,000 property writedown contributed to the loss.

The firm’s profits last year took account of non-cash depreciation costs of €244,528. It had shareholder funds totalling €1.5 million that included €721,030 in accumulated profits.

Remuneration down

The accounts show that remuneration to Lisney’s directors has fallen dramatically since the property boom era.

Its 12 directors shared €941,216 in remuneration that included pension payments last year. This compares to 13 directors sharing €5.9 million in remuneration in 2007. Numbers employed by the firm dropped from 96 to 90 last year with employment costs declining from €4.9 million to €4.5 million.

The firm’s operating expenses last year totalled €6.8 million compared to €7.7 million in 2011.

“The performance last year was in line with expectations,” Mr Nugent said. “I am particularly pleased that we managed to increase our cash balance from €355,382 to €581,452 and reduced the amount owed to the firm from €2.5 million to €1.8 million. Any business hopes for better profits, but last year was not a bad result in the current climate.”

He said the firm should record a profit in the current financial year with revenues remaining around the same, adding that he did not anticipate any further property writedowns.

‘Through the worst’

“My sense is that we are through the worst of it and people in the company here are a lot more comfortable than they were this time last year.”

Mr Nugent also said Lisney planned to relocate from its flagship St Stephen’s Green headquarters to a new city centre office before the end of the year.