WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTOR and cash and carry company Mangan Bros Ltd, which was acquired by BWG Group earlier this year, returned pretax profits last year of €5.5 million.

Returns just made to the Companies Office show that the company recorded a turnover last year of €195 million with sales in Ireland accounting for 99.6 per cent of revenues.

The accounts show that the company's accumulated profits at the end of 2007 were €35.8 million and that five directors of the then family-owned business shared directors' fees and emoluments of €1.4 million last year.

Earlier this year, Ireland's largest food wholesaler, BWG, which operates the Spar and Mace groups here, acquired its Ennis-based rival for about €40 million.

The Mangan Group operated the Mace franchise in the west of Ireland, as well as the Vivo and Xpress Stop symbols - covering some 250 retailers in total in the west of Ireland.

The accounts for Mangan Bros Ltd showed that last year pre-tax profits remained static with 2006 levels with profits of €5.51 million compared to profits of €5.52 million the previous year.

The figures show that Mangan Bros increased the turnover of its business last year by 1.3 per cent or €2.6 million from €192.5 million to €195.2 million.

The company's cost of sales last year were €175.6 million - an increase of 1.5 per cent on the €172.9 million cost in 2006.

The accounts show that the company employed 270 people at the end of last year incurring staff costs of €8.7 million.

Last year, Mangan Bros celebrated 75 years in business - Martin and Tommy Mangan established the operation in the west Clare village of Kilmihil in 1932.

The deal with BWG did not include the property of Mangan Bros' eight wholesale outlets, which have been retained by the Mangan family and leased to BWG.

Recent returns recorded that BWG last year increased its sales by 5 per cent to €1.3 billion.