EP Mooney, the family-owned Nissan dealership, suffered a pretax loss in 2006 of €1.7 million on a turnover of €108.7 million, according to accounts filed with the Companies Office.

However, owner and chief executive Paraic Mooney said there had been a substantial turnaround in trade this year.

The group has interests in car dealerships, investment properties and a fitness centre. The group's accounts do not disclose how the turnover was divided between the various businesses.

The different elements of the business were consolidated into a group structure in 2005 and investment properties were revalued, creating a valuation gain of €28.9 million. Pretax profits for that year were €24 million.

Mr Mooney said yesterday that the 2006 consolidated accounts covered a number of businesses. He said that while 2006 was a difficult year in some of those businesses, it marked a turning point for them and he was "happy to report a substantial turnaround in trade" in all his businesses in 2007. The 2006 accounts show group turnover was €108.7 million, a substantial improvement on the 2005 figure of €96.4 million.

Gross profit in 2006 was €12.3 million, up from €8.8 million in 2005. Shareholders' funds at the end of 2006 were €39.8 million. The accounts show the group had investment properties worth €73 million at the end of 2006, and that the properties had an historical cost of €31.2 million. The group also had tangible assets worth €40.9 million at the end of 2006. Total bank and lease loans at year's end were €63 million and the group paid interest of €3.3 million during the year. The company employed an average of 234 people during 2006, up from 187 in the previous year, and total staff costs were €8.25 million, up from €6.5 million in 2005. Directors' emoluments were €358,000.

The EP Mooney group is based on the Long Mile Road in Dublin 12. Its car dealerships are EP Mooney Ltd, Long Mile Road, Koping Motors, Naas Road, Dublin, and Finn Reddy Motor Company, Naas Road.