Power City posts profits of €9.2m as sales reach €100m

Electrical retailer Power City made €9.2 million in profits last year as sales hit €100 million, its latest return to the Companies Registration Office says.

The group, which specialises in selling products such as TVs, DVD players, computers and household electrical goods at discount prices, turned over €100.1 million in the 12 months ended September 30th last year.

Sales were 12 per cent higher than the €89.7 million the company recorded in the year ending September 30th, 2005.

Cost of sales and administrative expenses also grew by 12 per cent to a combined total of €91.3 million in 2006 from €81.1 million the previous year.

The company had operating profits of €8.8 million, 3.5 per cent ahead of the €8.6 million it recorded in 2005.

Interest payments of €1 million boosted operating profits and interest payable came to €646,680.

This left the group with €9.2 million in pretax profits in 2006, which represented a 5.7 per cent increase on the €8.7 million pretax earnings it made the previous year.

The company paid its shareholders, five members of the McKenna family - Liam, Liam jnr, Dermot, Sinéad and Aidan - dividends totalling €445,269. This translates as 85.2 cent per share.

The five shareholders hold all the issued share capital and are also directors of the company.

Directors' pay totalled €984,263, compared with €930,609 the year before. There are eight directors in total. The others are named in the accounts as Joseph Kelly, John Doyle and Patrick Finnerty.

The group employed 215 people in 2006, and paid €6 million in salaries, social welfare contributions and pensions during the year, 11 per cent more than in 2005. It paid more than €1.7 million in corporation tax.

Power City operates a defined-benefit pension scheme for some of its workers. The notes to the accounts show that this cost it €580,000 in 2006.

The scheme had a surplus of €648,000 at the year's end, compared with a shortfall of €229,000 12 months earlier.

The company retained €7.3 million in profits for the year. The balance sheet shows that shareholders' funds stood at €56.2 million on September 30th, 2006, compared to €48 million a year earlier.

The company operates eight stores: six in Dublin; one in Bray, Co Wicklow, where it is headquartered and one in Drogheda, Co Louth.