The shareholders of BSE test manufacturer Enfer Technology took a €9 million dividend from the company in 2004, the latest figures reveal.
The company paid Louis Ronan and Michael O'Connor a €9 million dividend in 2004, while the company itself made a profit of €8.4 million during the same year. Mr Ronan, the company's biggest shareholder, would have been the main beneficiary of the dividend payout, getting approximately €8 million.
In 2003, when the company made a profit of €17.25 million, the shareholders were paid a €16.7 million dividend. Enfer Technology is the parent of Enfer Scientific, which developed and produced a successful test for screening meat for BSE - mad cow disease - in the late 1990s.
Authorities in the Republic, the EU and the US have approved the system for use and it is exported widely as well as being used in this country's meat slaughtering and processing plants.
According to consolidated group accounts recently lodged with the Companies Registration Office (CRO), turnover and profit at the company dipped sharply during 2004. Sales were down €8.5 million on the previous year to €21.2 million from €29.7 million. Operating profit fell by a similar amount to €8.35 million from €17.16 million.
The fall in sales was largely because the Department of Agriculture stopped subsidising BSE testing at meat plants in 2004. This drove the price down by an estimated 30 per cent.
Profit before tax dropped to €8.4 million from €17.25 million. During 2004, employment at the company rose to 108 people from 99. Wages increased to €3.7 million from €3.25 million, while welfare costs rose €64,000 to €372,000.
The directors, Mr Ronan, Mr O'Connor and Martin Crowley, were paid €424,667. This payment included €55,596 in pension contributions.
