A house-building group based in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, made a pretax profit of €14.8 million on a turnover of €43.8 in 2004, according to accounts just filed.

The group, Andrews Construction Ltd, is controlled by James Andrews, from Mullingar.

The accounts for the year to end December 2004 show that during the year, the group bought a site from Mr Andrews for €3.95 million.

Andrews Construction is currently building or about to build private houses at: Mullingar; Newbridge, Co Kildare; Blackrock, Co Louth; Trim, Co Meath, and Navan, Co Meath. It is building local authority houses at Tallaght, Co Dublin.

The accounts show that turnover in 2004 was up slightly on the 2003 figure of €42.8 million. However, profits were up significantly on the 2003 figure of €9.3 million.

The accounts show a significant drop in administration expenses.

The directors are Mr Andrews, Annette Andrews and David Andrews. There were a number of transactions involving related parties.

Sales to Shay Andrews Construction Ltd, Andra Developments Ltd and Mullingar Hardware Stores Ltd amounted to 6.9 per cent of sales.

Purchases from Mullingar Hardware amounted to 30.7 per cent of total material purchases.

The accounts state that James Andrews was a director of Mullingar Hardware and is a director of Shay Andrews and Andra Developments.

The Andrews Construction subsidiaries are Steerpoint Properties Ltd and Jaywood Joinery Ltd. Investments in subsidiaries was €5.15 million.The average number of persons employed by Andrews Construction during 2004 was 12.

Staff costs totalled €6.6 million, of which €548,844 was attributable to directors. Dividends of €55,665 were paid.