PROFITS AT hazardous waste disposal group Indaver Ireland halved in 2007 to €861,194 due to the loss of one large customer.

Accounts just filed for Indaver, which is planning to operate an incinerator in Co Meath, show that its revenues declined by 8.3 per cent to €33.4 million.

"The company is dependent on a small number of large customers in the bulk liquid business," the directors' report states. "The loss of one contract in February 2007 is responsible for the decline in bulk liquid loads."

The customer account lost in 2007 was not named in the accounts.

The directors said its acquisition of Cedar Integrated Waste Ltd in August 2007 had boosted its customer base and reduced the potential impact of any future customers losses.

Indaver paid €3.175 million upfront for Cedar plus deferred payments that could bring the total cost to €4.758 million over a five-year period. The average number employed by Indaver last year rose to 125 from 102. Its staff costs rose by just more than €1 million to €4.79 million during the year. The accounts show that Indaver's directors were paid €363,196 in 2007, up from €227,447 the previous year. "Executive officers" were paid €830,365 compared with €711,946 in 2006.

The notes to Indaver's accounts show that a €377,750 provision set aside for the restoration of a site in Dublin Port was not needed.

No dividend was paid by the company.

Indaver Ireland is a subsidiary of the Belgium-based company of the same name which has waste-management operations across Europe. Indaver entered the Irish market in 1998.

Indaver is currently planning to build incinerators in Meath and Cork at a combined cost of €280 million.

The Meath plant is due to open in January 2011. It will be Ireland's first incinerator and will handle 200,000 tonnes of municipal waste.

In August, Indaver chose John Sisk Son Ltd as the main contractor for the enabling works phase for the Meath facility.