Pretax profits at the builder of the Central Bank HQ and the 3Arena in Dublin increased by 50 per cent last year to €9.65 million.
New accounts filed by Walls Construction Ltd show that the business recorded the jump in profits as revenues rose 11 per cent to €303.8 million.
According to the directors’ report, the business has a strong order book for 2022 “and a good line of sight into 2023 and beyond”. The directors state that they are confident that the group will continue its growth and build on its financial trading position.
The Government’s Covid-19 measures restricted all construction activity in the first 15 weeks of 2021.
Those limits resulted in a significant reduction in revenues for that part of 2021. The business last year benefited from €2.4 million in ‘other operating income’ through Government grants.
Some of the Wall’s other projects include LinkedIn’s Dublin HQ, Google’s Bolands Mill scheme, Kerry Group’s Global Technology and Innovation Centre at Naas, Co Kildare and the Cliff House hotel in Co Waterford.
Numbers employed by the group last year increased from 316 to 340 with staff costs rising from €26.25 million to €28.28 million.
Directors’ pay increased by 34 per cent from €1.94 million to €2.6 million including pension contributions of €72,258.
The firm recorded post tax profits of €8.37 million after paying corporation tax of €1.28 million.
Shareholder funds at Walls Construction Ltd the end of last year totalled €19.13 million that included accumulated profits of €16.3 million. The firm’s cash funds increased from €26.59 million to €41.9 million.
It no dividend after paying out a dividend of €5m in 2020.
Walls Construction is looking to cash in on its north Dublin HQ with plans before An Bord Pleanála for a €77 million nine storey mixed use scheme made up of 176 apartments on the site of its HQ at Northern Cross, Malahide Rd in Dublin 17.
