Pretax profits at the cleaning and security services group, Bidvest Noonan Services last year declined by 34 per cent to €21.85 million.
Accounts for Bidvest Noonan (ROI) Ltd show that the business recorded the decrease in pretax profits as revenues increased by 14.6 per cent from €229.2 million to €262.7 million in the 12 months to the end of June last.
The main reason the drop in profit was €16.36m in dividends received in fiscal 2021 that did not reoccur in 2022.
In a note with the accounts the directors said that the company “performed strongly during the year”.
The accounts said that “Covid-19 had also resulted in reduced revenues in certain sectors of the business but equally revenues increased in other sectors to offset some of the Covid-19 impact”.
On the positive and negative business impact of Covid-19, the note said that in some instances this had led to an increase in demand from critical services such as supermarkets, online retailers, hospitals and health centres.
“Conversely, many universities and airports have seen complete and partial shutdowns throughout the pandemic,” the accounts said.
The accounts also said that “the profitability of the business was improved due to the exiting of low margin contracts from our portfolio and improved cost controls across all areas of the business”.
he firm last year paid out a €6 million dividend to the company’s shareholders.
The group recorded post tax profits of €19.76 million after paying €2.05 million in corporation tax.
The South African-based BidVest purchased Noonan Services Group for €175 million in 2017.
Numbers employed at the Irish unit last year increased by 1,392 from 7,138 to 8,530 as staff costs rose by €30.56 million from €169.66 million to €200.23 million.
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Pay to directors increased from €1.67 million to €2.42 million made up of aggregate emoluments of €1.82 million; €481,000 in share based payment expenses and €114,000 in pension contributions.
A breakdown of last year’s revenues show that €159.53 million was generated from cleaning and facility services; €67.9 million from security services and €35.22m from ‘other services’.
The profit in 2022 takes account of combined non-cash depreciation and amortisation costs of €3.2 million
At the end of June last, the group had shareholder funds of €138.3 million that included accumulated profits of €44.5 million.
The group’s cash funds increased during the year from €15.99m to €19.89m.
In October 2021, the €12.4 million acquisition of L Lynch Interaction Ltd was hived up into Bidvest Noonan.
Recently, Bidvest Noonan has been linked with a possible €100 million-plus purchase of rival outsourcing firm, MCR Group.
MCR’s client list here includes RTÉ, Google, Aer Lingus, Amazon and Ikea.
