PROFITS AT O’Neills sportswear fell by a third last year, according to accounts recently filed at the Companies Registration Office.
Retained profits at Balbriggan Textiles, the company behind the O’Neills brand, stood at €408,000 in 2009, compared to €623,000 a year earlier.
Equity shareholders’ funds stood at €14.8 million at the end of 2009.
While the company does not disclose turnover, Paul Towell, O’Neills finance director, said sales were down about 15 per cent in 2009 and 2008 and trading conditions would remain tough in 2010.
“In light of the current economic climate, we are very happy with the company’s performance,” he said.
“Our primary concern at the moment is not to grow profit, but to maintain the jobs that are there.”
O’Neills employs about 520 people at its centres in Walkinstown in Dublin, and Strabane in Tyrone, with the company employing up to an additional 40 people at peak times.
Net debt fell significantly last year to €876,000, from €2.1 million in 2008. Mr Towell said he expects the company to be debt-free within 2-2½ years.
The accounts cite increasing energy and material costs as the principal risks and uncertainties facing the company.
The Irish-owned firm dates back to 1918, when Charles O’Neill started a small business in Dublin’s Capel Street, specialising in the manufacture of footballs.
It now makes and sells sport and leisure wear, and provides the bulk of sportswear for the GAA and other sporting organisations.
Margaret O’Neill remains a shareholder in the company.
O’Neills is one of the few Irish companies to manufacture its own fabric, operating knitting and dyeing plants as well as print and sewing operations.
The company operates eight retail stores in Northern Ireland. The latest accounts available for its Northern Irish business show the company posted pre-tax profit of £578,000 (€675,000) for 2008, a figure that was broadly in line with the previous year.
Retained profit brought forward for O’Neills was just under £4.5 million.
