BUSINESS NEWS:ONE OF the State's largest engineering firms, the Roughan O'Donovan Group, went into the red last year after revenues fell by 13 per cent to €14 million.
Accounts just filed by Roughan O’Donovan Engineers show it recorded a €160,084 pretax loss in the 12 months to October 31st last compared to a pretax profit of €358,428 in the previous year.
The group’s revenues declined by 13 per cent from €16.3 million to €14.1 million. The chief factor was an €800,000 impairment charge on goodwill, which follows a similar €1 million charge in 2010.
A note attached to the accounts states the impairment in the main trading subsidiary Roughan O’Donovan Ltd was incurred “on foot of uncertainties about forecast economic growth and infrastructure spending in Ireland”.
The directors state: “Despite challenging economic conditions the group has successfully secured a number of framework contracts in Ireland and made initial inroads into overseas markets, sufficient that only modest managed contraction has been necessary.”
The figures show that at the end of October, the firm had shareholder funds totalling €4.7 million.
Employee numbers last year fell from 134 to 121 with staff costs down from €10 million to €8.4 million.
