Manor Park Homebuilders, the construction company that is 49 per cent owned by DCC, had a profit margin of more than 41 per cent last year. Colm Keenareports.
Recently filed accounts for the company, which builds houses in Ireland, show turnover increased to €148.2 million in the year to the end of March 2006, from €117.8 million the previous year. Pretax profits rose more than 67 per cent to €61.1 million. Cost of sales was €78.8 million and administrative expenses were €8.5 million.
No dividend was paid and the accumulated profit brought forward at year's end was €136 million.
Joe Moran owns 51 per cent of Manor Park Homebuilders, with DCC holding the balance.
Directors' emoluments dropped during the year, to €3.2 million from €4 million, but notes to the accounts state that it also runs a bonus system from which some directors may benefit.
A trust established by the company to encourage and reward long-term commitment had €9.8 million contributed to it during the year, compared to €6.8 million the previous year.
Under the terms of this trust, bonus amounts are periodically set aside to which participating employees become entitled if they remain in service for specified periods, according to the accounts.
Total staff costs for the year, including directors' emoluments, were €17 million, a million higher than the previous year.
The company employed 87 construction workers and 11 administrative staff during the year.
The value of the land owned by the firm is given as €62 million, a slight increase on the 2005 figure.
Notes to the accounts state the company has signed option agreements to buy building land to the value of €31.6 million.
They also state that after the balance-sheet date, the company entered into a number of agreements to buy lands with a total value of €14.7 million.
In November last, An Bord Pleanála gave the go-ahead to Manor Park for the development of a hotel complex and tourism facilities on the estate of the late taoiseach Charles Haughey at Kinsealy, Co Dublin.
The board gave approval for a 70-bedroom hotel, a spa and leisure centre, an 18-hole golf course, "tourist residential units" and houses on the 200-acre Abbeville estate.
Manor Park has also held discussions with Clontarf Golf Club in Dublin about the possibility of the club moving to Kinsealy so that the club's current grounds could be developed.
DCC included an after-tax profit contribution of €25.5 million in its accounts for the year to the end of March 2005 in respect of its Manor Park shareholding.
However, it warned that profits would slip this year at Manor Park due to planning delays.
Interim figures for DCC released last November confirmed the trend, with the six-month contribution from Manor Park falling from €5.7 million to €4.7 million.
