Returns from asset sales bolstered profits at Bord na Móna in the face of a 30 per cent fall in turnover to €279 million following the State-owned company’s closure of two businesses.
Pretax profits at the group dipped to €113 million in the 12 months to March 27th from €116 million in the previous financial year, according to figures published on Wednesday. Turnover fell to €278.7 million from €395 million over the same period.
Bord na Móna’s annual report shows that renewable energy sales slid almost €45 million to €160.9 million.
The figures also show that the closure of its fertiliser business in 2022 and peat briquette factory in Derrinlough, Co Offaly, in 2023, wiped a combined €48 million off turnover. The company’s report points out that there was a “corresponding reduction in cost of sales and distribution expenses for the year”.
Bord na Móna closed both operations as a consequence of its move from peat harvesting into new businesses, including renewable energy.
‘With airlines there’s always some volatility'
A €57.1 million return from a joint venture announced with SSE Renewables in March and €7.3 million from the sale of its 50 per cent stake in electricity trader Viotas to that company’s managers supported profits.
As a result, operating profits grew 12 per cent to €106.7 million — the group’s highest ever, according to chief executive Tom Donnellan — during the 12 months to the end of March.
The State company and SSE Renewables announced in March that they would spend about €1 billion building wind farms to generate enough electricity to power more than 450,000 homes.
SSE Renewables, part of London-listed SSE, which owns Irish supplier Airtricity, contributed the €57.1 million to buy a 50 per cent stake in wind farms that Bord na Móna is building.
The group spent €164 million developing new energy businesses during the financial year — €133 million on projects that Bord na Móna wholly owns and €31 million on joint ventures.
That included the launch with ESB of the second phase of the Oweninny wind farm in Co Mayo, capable of supplying up to 140,000 homes.
Bord na Móna also continued work on its first solar farm at Timahoe North in Co Kildare, another partnership with ESB.
In Co Offaly, it is building a wind farm at Derrinlough and batteries, used to store power from renewables, at Cloncreen.
Earlier this year, Bord na Móna announced that Amazon Web Services, the tech giant’s data storage arm, had agreed a power purchase deal with Derrinlough and to become the first tenant at Bord na Móna’s Eco Energy park in Co Offaly.
The group plans to lure industries to the park by offering exclusively renewable power at the site.
- Sign up for Business push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our Inside Business podcast is published weekly – Find the latest episode here
