It has been a landmark year for the Quinn Group, the Cavan-based firm that continues to make its name in the most unlikely of places.

For one thing, the company's turnover, which is drawn from at least five different business sectors - from insurance to cement - is topping €1 billion for the first time.

This jump from €600 million in 2003 will come as pre-tax profits rise from €160 million to more than €200 million.

For a private company that has never raised funds on the stock market, such numbers are dizzying. They are especially so when the company has been built from scratch over a 30-year period on the basis of a £100 loan taken out in 1973.

The loan in question, so the story goes, was taken out so that Fermanagh man Mr Seán Quinn could launch his first gravel venture, which involved sinking a well, extracting the gravel, washing it and then selling it on to local contractors at a profit.

The success, modest as it was, offers a fine vignette on the vision that Mr Quinn has put to use throughout his career. From a seeming lack of opportunity, suddenly one of Ireland's most successful indigenous companies was born.

Three decades on, Quinn Group employs some 2,600 people across its 14 or so separate business lines. And things are growing all the time.

While there have been big years for Quinn Group in the past, such as the launch of Quinn Direct insurance in 1995, 2004 stands out as a time where even the most cynical of observers was forced to take him seriously.

The first reason for this came in January, when Quinn Group paid €145 million for two hotels in Prague. The property deal was the largest ever to be completed in the Czech Republic and thus demonstrated Mr Quinn's appetite for chunky acquisitions in new markets.

The firm said at the time that it would be happy to spend up to €1 billion picking up properties in the UK or continental Europe, although attention soon turned to a different sector altogether.

It emerged in March that Mr Quinn was pursuing listed radiators and plastics group Barlo. The deal showed his aggressive side and unwillingness to let go once he had sunk his teeth in.

The loser on this occasion was Barlo chief executive Dr Tony Mullins, who was also trying to buy out the company.

Eventually Mr Quinn trumped his rival's offer by some €14 million by offering €84 million for the company.

At the time of sale, Barlo had an estimated €300 million turnover and this has presumably helped to lift the Quinn Group's revenues above €1 billion.

The picture was, however, muddied in August, when Mr Quinn sold a non-core Barlo plastics business on for an estimated €55 million. The sale was viewed as a highly positive outcome for the Cavan firm since it left it with what it wanted of Barlo for a considerably lower price.

May saw Mr Quinn deepen his foothold in the renewable energy game when he picked up a 16 per cent stake in windfarm group Airtricity for roughly €40 million.

The next foray into the public eye came in August, when Mr Quinn moved to raise his financial services arm's holding in Dublin stockbroker NCB from 20 per cent to 25 per cent.

He had first bought into the firm a year earlier, just after it was bought out in an MBO. The total investment over the two years is unlikely to have amounted to more than €10 million - some would say pocket change - but the stake is, nonetheless, important on the credibility front.

A considerably larger play in credibility terms this year was the one that got away - the Wentworth golf and leisure club in Surrey.

This was an acquisition attempt that caught the attention of the business world on both sides of the Irish Sea more than most since it involved Mr Quinn trying to fight off stiff opposition to take control of a long-standing symbol of the British establishment. The idea was that he could use the club to support the image and social needs of his British business, which posts a turnover of more than £500 million sterling (€715 million).

In the end, he lost out to what was generally viewed as too high a price - £130 million sterling - for the assets. He managed to make what looked like a few overly high bids himself along the way, however, again prompting the cynicism with which he must now be familiar.

Such criticism presumably matters little to the man himself, as he moves on to the next deal with gusto. His reaction to the public loss in a bid to take over Ardagh in 2002 might be instructive in this regard. Rather than rolling back from the glass business and licking his wounds, he subsequently stepped up his involvement and is currently spending £200 million on a new glass plant in Cheshire.

A larger presence in the British insurance market is also on the cards for 2005, as Quinn Group continues to expand both organically and through acquisition.

The jury is out on what or where Mr Quinn might look to buy in 2005, but one popular, unfounded, bet is that he might take a look at Kildare's K-Club when it is put up for sale after the Ryder Cup in 2006.