Pretax profits at international Cork-based engineering group Kentech last year declined by 44 per cent to $9.4 million (€7.3 million).

Accounts just filed at the companies office show the decline in pretax profits occurred after revenues dipped by 18 per cent – from $141.3 million to $115.9 million in the 12 months to the end of December last.

The group employs more than 2,550 people.

Kentech services the oil, gas and petrochemical industries in Russia, Azerbaijan, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Kazakhstan and Australia.

A High Court dispute between director John Murphy and fellow directors Michael Francis Kent, Sarah Kent, John Kent and John Giley was settled last month and a note in the accounts refers to the settlement.

A note attached to the accounts states that trading was challenging in the second half of 2011 for the group and this remained so for the first part of 2012.

The figures show that after tax expense of $4.7 million and a $1.3 million writedown on property, the group’s total income for the year dropped to $3.36m.