PROFITS AT business outsourcing company Abtran grew by more than 75 per cent to €1.6 million last year, according to the latest accounts.
Turnover at the Cork-based company was €30.4 million for the 12-month period to the end of December 2009. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebidta) was up 9 per cent at €2.6 million.
Abtran is one of the largest private employers in the south of the country, employing about 1,000 people at its headquarters in Bishopstown just outside Cork city.
The company’s €1.6 million pretax profit compares to profits before tax of €906,000 in 2008.
Abtran’s chief executive Michael Fitzgerald said the company was on track to register double-digit growth in 2010. He said a combination of international expansion and renewal of existing contracts had boosted growth.
Established in 1997, Abtran provides business outsourcing services to companies in the private and public sectors. Clients include Aviva, An Post, EBS and BSkyB. It also provides services to eToll on behalf of the National Roads Authority. More than 35 per cent of its business is international.
Mr Fitzgerald said the financial services and healthcare sectors had generated particularly strong growth for the company. Abtran also plans to capitalise on its experience in the barrier-free tolling business in the international sphere, a growing market internationally.
Earlier this year Abtran announced the creation of 300 jobs over the next three years in management, business administration, finance, resource planning, IT and human resources with the support of Enterprise Ireland-backed investment.
Mr Fitzgerald said the company was on target to have all jobs in place by 2012.
The firm has steadily increased its workforce over the past number of years, increasing its workforce from 250 in 2006 to close to 1,000 this year.
Last year Abtran opened a €6 million Enterprise Ireland-backed learning and innovation centre, dedicated to the research, development and testing of new technologies and services.
The company has a research partnership with the Cork Constraint Computation Centre (4C) at UCC, which is seeking to develop next-generation systems for use in business process outsourcing.
The company’s four shareholders are Michael Fitzgerald, his brothers Pat and Gerard, and Patrick Ryan.
