Fitzwilton, the privately held investment vehicle owned by Sir Anthony O'Reilly and his brother-in-law Peter Goulandris has halved its pretax losses from €8.8 million to €4.2 million in 2004.
The company, which comprises investments in a number of companies and properties, recorded increased turnover from €26.5 million to €32.7 million.
In its annual report Fitzwilton said that Rennicks, a company that manufactures and distributes road signs and road safety products, achieved a substantial improvement in its trading performance last year. The company said Rennicks is forecasting another improvement in sales and profits. It is also planning to distribute its products into other markets.
Wood and Wood International signs, which is also part of the vehicle, designs, manufactures and installs signs for customers in the retail, leisure, finance and commercial sectors in the UK. It had a good trading performance last year and the outlook for this year is "extremely positive", according to the report which cites a strong order book.
Fitzwilton also has a 36 per cent interest in the Portfolio Design Group, a financial services company. It performed well during the year, it said, and a significant improvement in profits is forecast in 2005 as a consequence of new business contracts signed with financial institutions during the second half of 2004.
It also has investment properties in Northern Ireland.
