CCTV monitoring services firm Netwatch sees sales rise

Co Carlow-based technology company Netwatch Ireland, which recently held talks with the Irish Stock Exchange about a possible flotation, saw turnover increase from €8.46 million to €9.6 million last year, according to recently filed accounts.

The rise in full-year sales resulted in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) of €3.59 million versus €2.46 million in 2013.

The web-based CCTV monitoring services firm reported an operating profit of €1.65 million from €1.1 million a year earlier. Profit for the year before tax amounted to €1.5 million, as against €1.06 million.

Netwatch has previously set a target of €100 million in annual revenue by 2020 with as it aims to double the size of the company every three years.

The firm, which was established in 2003 by David Walsh and Niall Kelly, employs over 150 staff in Ireland, the UK and the US. It said wages and salaries at its Irish division, where 102 people are employed, totalled €4 million last year, up from €3.76 million in 2013.

The company said it expected further success in Ireland with the Irish market having “shown consistent growth and continuing to offer opportunities.”

Netwatch, which moved to new facilities in Boston earlier this year, said its US division experienced a successful year in 2014 with the opening of a second office in New York and an expectation of “considerable opportunities in its market, as was the case in Boston with several lucrative contracts already obtained.”

During 2014, Netwatch said it raised €2.5 million in additional funds as part of an Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS) fundraising exercise. It also said it received a net Research and Development (R&D) tax credit of €344,991 last year.

The company paid an end-of-year dividend of €120,000, unchanged from the previous year.