LOSSES AT builders’ merchant and DIY group Dublin Providers Ltd (DPL) more than trebled to €1.4 million last year as the construction downturn continued.

The company’s accounts for the year show that sales fell 33 per cent to €51.7 million from €78.1 million in 2008. The group’s operations lost €1.2 million in 2009, 10 times the €12,000 loss it recorded the previous year.

A €200,000 interest bill on its bank loans and overdrafts boosted pretax losses to €1.4 million, over three times the €385,000 that the company lost in 2008.

Directors Jeremiah Maher and Noel Keogh point out that the group’s DIY and builders’ providers’ businesses depend on the level of house building and repair, maintenance and improvement markets. “The results of the merchanting and DIY businesses for 2009 were influenced by the decline in activity in the construction sector during the year, which was partially offset by the continued growth in the repair, maintenance and improvement and DIY markets,” their report states.

The directors expect the same general level of activity in the group’s markets this year. The report also says that DPL has a relatively healthy pipeline of acquisition opportunities. The group’s balance sheet remained strong, with shareholders’ funds of €57 million at the end of 2009, a slight dip on the €58 million it reported 12 months earlier. The value of fixed assets held by the group increased last year to €46.6 million.